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THE 
FORGOTTEN  ARMY 


THE 
FORGOTTEN  ARMY 


Six  Years'  Work  of  the 

Committee  on  Criminal  Courts  of  the 

Charity  Organization  Society 

of  the  City  of  New  York 

1911-1917 

A  story  of  its  work  for  the  clean,  intelligent 

and  kindly  administration  of  our 

Inferior  Criminal  Courts 


& 


EARLY  in  the  second  year  of  the  Great  War 
America  awoke  in  a  wide  movement  for  adequate 
national  defense.  The  first  large  public  demon- 
stration was  New  York  City's  stupendous  preparedness 
parade.  From  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  nine 
o'clock  at  night  troop  after  troop  passed  up  Fifth 
Avenue  until  the  best  estimates  had  placed  the  number 
at  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  More  wanted  to 
march  but  the  day  was  not  long  enough. 

At  the  same  time  that  this  great  wave  of  patriotism 
and  devotion  to  our  national  ideals  was  surging  up 
the  avenue,  another  procession,  a  never  ending  one, 
was  on  its  slow  and  straggling  march.  It  was  a  part 
of  that  constant  stream  of  misery,  misfortune,  igno- 
rance and  vice  that  passes  through  our  criminal  courts 
at  the  rate  of  240,000  cases  a  year.  This  procession  is 
in  dark  contrast  to  the  demonstration  for  patriotic 
public  defense. 

If  some  evil  genius  could,  like  a  pied  piper,  draw 
together  in  one  ordered  review  all  of  the  240,000  that 
frequented  our  courts  last  year  and  lead  them  up 
Fifth  Avenue  for  us  to  view  as  we  viewed  our  pre- 
paredness parade  we  would  be  appalled! 

Let  imagination  picture  the  evil  genius  leading  this 
procession.  But  let  us  observe  the  rank  and  file  fol- 
lowing brazenly  or  in  shame,  in  evil  abandon  or  in 
despair,  in  stumbling  ignorance  or  with  conscious  evil 
intent. 

At  the  head  are  those  whom  the  press  and  the  sen- 
sational  character  of  their  crimes  have  brought  to 


2  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

public  attention.  They  have  been  drawn  by  our  pied 
piper  from  the  murderer's  grave,  from  the  steps  of  the 
electric  chair,  from  the  burglar's,  the  embezzler's, 
briber's  and  blackmailer's  prison  cells.  They  are  only 
a  few,  but  of  the  whole  endless  procession  they  are  the 
only  ones  that  have  commanded  public  attention. 

Our  seat  on  the  reviewing  stand  must  be  comfortable 
if  we  review  the  whole  of  this  ill-starred  procession,  for 
it  will  last  longer  than  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing until  nine  at  night.  The  first  rays  of  the  dawn 
of  the  following  day  will  be  breaking  over  the  buildings 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  before  the  last  troop 
will  have  passed  before  us. 

As  hour  passes  into  each  succeeding  hour  neither  hun- 
ger, thirst,  nor  fatigue  diverts  us.  We  are  fascinated 
by  the  spectacle.  Here  are  displayed  to  us  the  fruits 
of  evil  purpose,  recklessness,  thoughtless  mistakes, 
ignorance,  bad  heredity,  social  injustice,  greed  and 
vice.    It  seems  the  panorama  of  misdirected  existence. 

We  have  plenty  of  time  to  analyze  each  group  as  it 
passes  by. 

The  second  battalion  is  made  up  of  a  swaggering, 
reckless  crew  of  petty  disturbers  of  the  public  peace. 
Some  have  blood-stained  shirts,  others  bandaged  heads 
or  bruised  faces.  They  are  the  kind  that  'know  it  all', 
that  can  be  told  nothing;  some  bear  the  marks  of  in- 
toxication, others  those  of  brute  indulgence.  They  try 
judicial  patience,  they  exasperate  the  police  seeking  to 
restore  order  without  arrest.  Some  are  good  work- 
men, but  always  out  of  a  job,  some  are  worthless  idlers, 
others  are  generally  steady  with  sprees  of  lawlessness 
as  their  one  luxury.  There  are  men  of  all  nationalities — 
a  cosmopolitan  brotherhood  of  lawlessness. 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  3 

Here  is  a  shame-faced  troop  among  the  rest.  In  a 
moment  of  annoyance  or  semi-intoxication  they  have 
lost  control  of  their  hair-trigger  tempers.  They  are 
honestly  sorry  and  are  appalled  by  the  first  serious  con- 
sequence of  their  moments  of  weakness. 

Here  are  dogmatic,  set-faced  individuals  walking 
two  and  two  glowering  at  each  other.  An  honest  differ- 
ence of  opinion  without  the  saving  grace  of  humor  has 
brought  them  to  blows.  Each  will  always  think  the 
other  the  offending  party. 

This  division  ends  with  a  hilarious  lot  of  youngsters 
whose  animal  spirits  have  brought  them  to  the  police 
station. 

Now  for  nearly  two  hours  the  victims  of  intemperance 
pass  by.  The  first  that  come  into  view  are  a  respectable 
looking  lot  with  all  the  marks  of  the  law-abiding  citizen. 
They  are  the  ones  who  though  otherwise  good  citizens 
have  their  yearly  or  monthly  fling  and  for  this  once  only 
have  they  brought  upon  themselves  the  disgrace  of 
arrest  for  public  intoxication.  They  are  ashamed  or 
boastfully  proud  of  their  escapades.  There  are  the 
young,  foolhardy  boys.  There  are  those  over-confident 
fellows  of  all  classes  who  have  always  boasted  that 
they  never  got  to  the  state  where  they  couldn't  get 
home.  There  are  the  honest  workmen  and  mechanics 
who  stayed  one  drink  too  long  over  the  friendly  bar 
on  their  way  home  Saturday  night.  They  have  sought 
in  the  saloons  the  diversion,  companionship  and  enter- 
tainment denied  them  in  their  crowded,  slovenly  homes. 

After  half  an  hour  the  aspect  of  those  in  the  proces- 
sion gradually  changes.  The  marks  of  dissolute  and 
intemperate  lives  are  shown  in  the  physical  unwhole- 
someness   of  features.     Intermittent  intemperance  is 


4  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

drifting  into  habitual  dissipation.  We  are  beginning 
to  note  the  vacant,  lack-luster  eyes.  Soiled  collars, 
stringy  neckties,  a  peculiar  growing  unkemptness  of 
dress  indicates  to  all  but  themselves  how  far  they  have 
travelled  the  path  toward  habitual  drunkenness. 

Then  come  the  hopeless  drunkards  whom  only  dearth 
of  money  keeps  from  perpetual  intoxication.  There  are 
those  of  self-willed  debauchery  whose  reputable  families 
have  striven  in  vain  to  save  from  shame.  There  are 
the  weak,  the  simple-minded,  whose  only  strength  is 
desire  for  drink.  There  are  their  stronger  companions 
whose  drunkenness  is  only  a  part  of  their  many-sided 
sensuality.  Last  come  the  stragglers — unowned  dere- 
licts drifting  from  the  park  bench  to  the  saloon,  to  the 
workhouse  and  back;  incoherent  in  speech  except  when 
begging  for  a  drink.  In  the  haze  of  their  painracked 
and  dulled  sensibilities  they  have  arrived  at  the  ab- 
solute of  intemperance  and  self-indulgence — their  final 
goal. 

We  have  watched  this  long  weary  procession  of 
drunkenness — brought  here  by  chance,  by  bad  asso- 
ciations, by  weakness,  by  sorrow,  by  overstrain,  by 
idleness,  by  losses,  by  over-confidence,  by  choice  or 
by  ignorance.    The  division  ends. 

But  who  are  these  following?  The  shifty  eyes,  the 
sleek,  cunning  hypocrisy  of  bearing  reveal  the  schooled 
criminal  with  conscious  evil  purpose.  They  are  the 
pickpockets  and  the  'jostlers'.  These  wolves  of  the 
crowds  make  their  living  from  the  money  snatched  out 
of  women's  handbags  or  cunningly  cut  or  filched  from 
men's  persons. 

In  close  association  with  the  pickpocket  comes  the 
burglar,  the  thug,  the  gangster,  that  new  product  of 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  5 

our  slum  frontier.  Blustering,  over-confident  in  their 
bullying  and  swaggering  bravado  or  slinking  meanly 
along,  reflecting  the  nature  of  their  exploits,  they  pass 
before  us.  Some  are  old  in  crime  plainly  showing  the 
marks  of  prison  service.  It  has  obviously  not  gone  well 
with  them;  they  look  cowed  and  hopeless.  Others  with 
a  measure  of  success  have  'beat'  the  game  and  still  walk 
with  reckless  confidence. 

Following  are  the  young  disciples  in  wrongdoing. 
They  are  graduates  of  the  street  corner  and  cheap  club 
room  schools  of  crime.  Their  ignorance  and  idleness 
more  than  their  perversity  have  been  their  undoing. 
There  is  much  of  good  in  them  yet;  they  have  started 
wrongly.    Right  influences  might  put  them  right. 

The  assortment  of  irresponsible  individuals  that  from 
now  on  for  nearly  an  hour  claims  our  attention  has 
joined  the  procession  through  the  doorway  of  the 
Domestic  Relations  Court.  They  are  wife  deserters 
and  non-supporting  fathers.  Also  among  the  number 
can  be  found  a  smaller  group  of  sons  and  daughters 
who  have  forgotten  or  ignored  the  duty  resting  upon 
them  to  care  for  their  aged  parents. 

Many  of  these  men,  weakened  by  indulgence  in  drink 
or  lust  or  simply  discouraged  by  unemployment  or 
sickness  in  the  family,  have  grown  insensible  to  the 
moral  and  legal  obligation  resting  upon  them  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  wives  and  children  or  their  fathers 
and  mothers  until  at  last  their  dependents,  driven  to  the 
point  of  desperation,  have  appealed  to  the  court  for 
relief.  Many  of  these  men  love  their  families  but  have 
simply  become  careless  and  selfish. 

Then  follow  those  whom  jealousy  of  other  men,  justly 
grounded  or  unjustly  alleged,  has  given  the  excuse  for 


6  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

shirking  the  family  responsibilities.  Some  are  honest- 
faced  fellows  whom  cankering  jealousy  has  driven  to 
desertion  as  a  last  resort.  Their  faces  are  bitter,  dis- 
illusioned, sorrowful.  They  are  willing  to  support  their 
children  but  their  manhood  revolts  at  harboring  an 
unfaithful  wife. 

The  next  troop,  a  body  of  substantial  looking  busi- 
ness men,  are  surprising  to  us.  They  hardly  look  like 
criminals.  They  are  property  owners  brought  to  court 
by  inspectors  of  the  Labor  Department  and  other 
departments  having  to  do  with  safety  of  buildings  for 
factory  workers.  They  are  the  owners  of  properties 
that  have  by  recent  legislation  required  alteration  to 
make  them  legally  safe  and  fit,  or  men  who  in  erecting 
buildings  have  failed  to  comply  with  the  law's  require- 
ments. Most  of  these  are  honest,  well  intentioned  citi- 
zens with  no  criminal  intent  who  often  correct  the  errors 
before  the  court  finds  it  necessary  to  exact  punishment. 

Following  are  some  who  for  the  most  part  are  honest, 
respectable  looking  folk.  They  are  men  of  all  ages, 
youths  and  women,  largely  foreigners.  They  are 
violators  of  petty  ordinances.  They  are  those  who  have 
been  found  littering  up  the  parks  with  papers,  women 
who  have  let  their  dogs  loose  in  the  parks,  youths  and 
those  of  older  years  who  have  torn  branches  from  trees 
or  shrubbery. 

Others  are  janitors  and  janitresses  who  have  violated 
some  street  cleaning  or  health  ordinance  like  mixing 
garbage  in  the  same  can  with  ashes.  Here  is  a  troop 
of  foot-sore  Italians  and  other  poor  laborers  who  in 
their  over-thriftiness  have  used  street  car  transfers 
illegally.  Here  is  a  crowd  upon  whose  faces  indignation 
and  shamefacedness  are  rivals.    They  have  been  called 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  7 

to  court  for  spitting  on  the  sidewalk  or  in  the  subway 
on  a  Health  Department  clean-up  campaign,  or  sum- 
moned to  court  for  smoking  in  the  subway.  There  are 
many  more  of  these  petty  offenders.  The  individual 
cases  are  petty  and  their  arrest  may  seem  oppressive. 
It  is,  however,  a  necessary  part  of  the  machinery  that 
makes  the  city  clean,  safe  and  habitable. 

Next  to  follow  are  the  twelve  thousand  children  who 
have  passed  through  the  Children's  Court  during  the 
year.  They  are  as  other  children  though  on  the  whole 
more  poorly  clad  and  a  large  number  of  them  look 
underfed.  Some  appear  mentally  deficient  and  dull. 
There  is  the  newsboy  type,  the  street  urchin,  the 
crowds  of  incipient  gangsters,  the  slouching  listless  ones, 
girls  with  brazen,  devil-may-care  faces,  others  tragically 
weak — all  children,  but  some  are  schooled  in  hard  ex- 
perience beyond  their  years.  Some  are  incipient  crim- 
inals; about  half  are  simply  unfortunate  in  being 
without  proper  guardianship  or  parental  supervision. 
These  crowds  of  children  are  the  early  harvest  of  bad 
environment,  heredity,  misfortune,  ignorance,  crim- 
inality and  neglect.  As  they  troop  by  us  we  can  almost 
see  the  weight  of  the  tremendous  handicap  on  their 
slight  shoulders. 

A  band  of  about  three  thousand  vagrants  follows  in 
whose  numbers  are  the  poor  old  helpless  creatures  that 
go  mumbling  about  the  streets  for  money,  for  bread 
and  a  ten-cent  lodging.  Some  show  marks  of  former 
respectability.  Then  there  are  the  fakirs,  hardy  look- 
ing individuals  whose  distorted  psychology  makes  it 
easier  for  them  to  beg  than  to  work.  A  number  have 
false  bandages  or  shamelessly  display  some  infirmity, 
deformity  or  bodily  injury  for  sympathy.     There  are 


8  THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

the  unclean  looking  habitual  frequenters  of  the  bread 
lines  and  the  denizens  of  the  lowest  depths  of  degrada- 
tion and  poverty.  They  beg  or  pilfer  from  garbage 
during  the  day  and  resort  at  night  to  the  foulest  back 
rooms  of  saloons  where  they  spend  what  they  beg, 
sleep  in  chairs  in  the  stale,  vile  smelling  dark  corners 
with  sawdust-covered  floors.  They  haunt  the  fre- 
quenters of  the  bar  like  flies  or  roaches,  begging  drink, 
picking  up  cigar  stubs  and  drinking  dregs. 

A  small  body  of  unnatural  creatures  attract  our  at- 
tention. We  note  the  ashen  face  and  glassy  eye  of  the 
drug  fiend,  the  effeminate  mannerism  of  the  sex  per- 
vert, the  fantastic  movements  or  the  dumb  stolidity 
of  the  insane.  The  sight  is  unpleasant  and  we  turn 
away. 

The  beefy,  substantial  looking  crowd  that  follows 
has  been  brought  to  court  by  the  Health  Department 
for  violating  health  regulations.  A  number  of  them 
have  been  found  selling  food  unfit  for  human  con- 
sumption. There  are  wholesale  and  retail  merchants 
and  representatives  of  food  corporations  used  to  sharp 
dealings.  Some  have  deliberately  endangered  the  pub- 
lic health  for  profit.  There  are  the  butchers,  the  poultry 
dealers,  the  fish  mongers,  the  wholesale  and  retail  fruit 
men,  the  keepers  of  small  stalls,  milk  stations,  pushcart 
peddlers — a  cosmopolitan  representation  of  unscrupu- 
lous merchants.  In  company  with  these  are  the 
cheaters  in  weights  and  measures,  those  robbers  of 
the  poor — coal  dealers,  grocers,  produce  merchants, 
meat  dealers  that  fatten  on  petty  dishonesty.  Their 
meanness  shines  out  through  their  beady  pig  eyes. 

The  gambling-house  keepers,  disorderly  hotel  pro- 
prietors, the  runners  for  disorderly  houses,  the  panderers 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  9 

and  creatures  that  live  off  the  proceeds  of  prostitution 
follow  after.  They  vary  in  type.  There  are  the  pur- 
ple-faced, watery-eyed  brutes,  the  sleek,  bediamonded, 
plump-faced  fawners,  and  the  oily-haired,  sallow-faced 
creatures — all  shameless  in  their  vicious  business. 

Hour  after  hour  the  procession  has  gone  on  through 
day  and  into  night  until  dawn  is  breaking.  As  the  last 
of  the  file  of  men  winds  past,  the  tired  mind  fancifully 
pictures  these  creatures  as  the  many-sided  personalities 
of  vice  slinking  away  before  the  light  of  day.  But  the 
procession  does  not  end  here. 

Down  the  street  emerging  out  of  the  shady  mists  of 
lifting  darkness  come  the  ranks  of  the  women  offenders. 
There  are  the  painted  and  be-feathered  women  of  the 
streets  and  keepers  of  disorderly  resorts,  insolent  in 
their  display  of  shamelessness. 

The  habitually  drunken  women  in  their  train  are  as 
revolting  as  they  are  pitiable.  Some  are  ravingly  de- 
lirious, some  are  repulsive  in  their  filthy  unkemptness, 
others  are  semi-respectable.  There  are  women  and 
girls  of  low  mentality,  the  feeble-minded  with  little 
moral  responsibility. 

At  the  end  are  the  girls  and  young  women  who  have 
fallen  for  the  first  time.  There  are  the  headstrong  and 
willful,  the  foolish  and  easily  led — girls  that  should  be 
saved  from  their  own  destruction.  There  are  the  un- 
fortunate, the  ignorant,  those  pinched  by  poverty  that 
need  protection  and  help. 

In  our  imagination  we  have  pictured  as  in  a  proces- 
sion the  criminals,  petty  offenders  and  youthful  delin- 
quents that  annually  filter  through  our  criminal  courts. 
We  might  picture  them  again  as  a  segregated  com- 
munity— a  city  gone  wrong — for  if  they  were  all  segre- 


10  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

gated  in  one  place  they  would  make  a  community  as 
large  as  that  of  the  third  largest  city  of  our  State. 

But  they  are  not  segregated.  They  are  a  city  within 
a  city  here  in  our  great  metropolis. 

Their  lives  are  closely  interwoven  with  the  lives  of 
others.  Their  wrongdoings,  their  off  endings,  their 
crimes  may  affect  the  lives  and  property  of  all  or  any 
of  us.  In  the  marvelously  varied  and  complex  waves 
of  influence  they  have  their  part — infinitely  hard  to 
trace  but  ever  present  and  potent. 

The  Courts  of  the  Poor 

What  are  these  tribunals  that  determine  the  fate  of 
this  vast  horde  of  people? 

The  Magistrates'  Courts,  formerly  known  as  the 
police  courts,  are  the  courts  to  which  must  come  in 
the  first  instance  every  case  of  violation  of  the  criminal 
statutes  from  murder  to  the  most  petty  offense.  If 
the  charge  is  a  felony,  that  is,  an  offense  the  conse- 
quences of  which  are  so  serious  that  the  offender  must 
be  given  a  jury  trial,  the  magistrate  must  determine 
if  there  is  enough  evidence  for  the  case  to  be  held  for 
action  by  the  Grand  Jury  and  trial  in  the  Court  of 
General  Sessions.  If  it  is  a  serious  misdemeanor  simi- 
larly it  is  held  for  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions.  In  all 
other  offenses,  which  constitute  seventy-five  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  number  of  cases,  the  magistrates  of  the 
police  courts  have  final  jurisdiction.  Their  decisions 
are  therefore  the  final  judgment  for  the  large  majority 
of  the  poor,  miserable  and  unfortunate  individuals  that 
come  before  them. 

The  Children's  Court  handles  yearly  the  twelve  thou- 
sand or  more  cases  of  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age. 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  11 

It  is  the  Magistrates'  Courts,  the  Court  of  Special 
Sessions  and  the  Children's  Courts — these  tribunals 
of  the  poor — which  are  generally  known  as  the  inferior 
criminal  courts. 

This  name  is  a  misnomer  for  they  are  inferior  only 
in  the  fact  that  they  do  not  try  felons — those  who  have 
committed  the  major  crimes  that  demand  trial  by  jury. 
They  are  fundamentally  the  more  important  in  that 
they  handle  the  great  bulk  of  the  criminal  and  semi- 
criminal  population.  They  come  near  to  the  lives 
of  those  in  trouble,  the  ignorant,  the  misguided  and 
the  unfortunate. 

The  Conditions  Ten  Years  Ago 

The  court  system  that  has  handled  this  vast  number 
of  delinquents  seems  to  have  been  like  Topsy.  It  just 
grew.  The  old  Justice  of  the  Peace  Courts  fitted  to 
rural  districts  were  multiplied  and  enlarged  in  a  hope- 
less patchwork  way  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  great  metro- 
politan city. 

They  were  the  prey  of  politicians. 

Their  administration  was  so  notoriously  bad  that  a 
February,  1907,  number  of  a  popular  monthly  magazine 
had  as  the  title  of  its  leading  article,  'The  Farce  of 
Police  Court  Justice  in  New  York'.  The  sub-title  read, 
"Magistrates,  Lawyers,  Ward  Heelers,  Professional 
Bondsmen,  Clerks  of  the  Court  and  Probation  Officers 
join  to  Make  a  Mockery  of  '  The  Supreme  Court  of  the 
Poor'."  The  conditions  described  were  shocking,  a 
tragic  burlesque  on  real  justice. 

Throughout  the  city  were  scattered  the  district  police 
courts.  No  one  was  particularly  interested  in  the  petty 
criminals  and  unfortunates  whose  fates  were  decided 


12  THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

here.  They  became  the  easy  prey  and  rich  field  for 
plunder  for  the  corrupt  politicians.  Under  the  cover 
of  public  indifference  the  poor,  the  unjustly  accused, 
the  unfortunate,  the  weak  and  frightened  were  shame- 
fully exploited. 

The  shyster  lawyers  hand  in  glove  with  the  clerks 
and  the  police  attendants  wrung  from  the  distracted 
inmates  of  the  detention  pen  the  last  dollar  they  pos- 
sessed. In  some  instances  the  ward  politician  went 
over  the  calendar  each  morning  to  designate  those  who 
were  to  be  protected  by  his  benign  favor. 

The  general  atmosphere  of  the  court  room  was  that 
of  vulgar,  corrupt  oppression.  The  beefy  policemen 
assigned  to  these  sinecure  court  jobs  through  influence 
intimidated  the  respectable  citizen,  the  timid,  the 
ignorant  and  the  criminal  with  the  same  rude  incivility. 

The  trials  were  shameful  in  their  lack  of  dignity  and 
fairness.  Often  the  accused  was  an  entire  outsider  to 
the  whole  proceeding,  being  unable  to  hear  what  was 
said  against  him  and  not  given  opportunity  to  say 
anything  in  his  own  defense. 

The  courts  were  wretchedly  housed  in  miserable  and 
generally  very  noisy  quarters. 

There  were  no  adequate  records  kept,  no  means  of 
determining  the  old  from  the  first  offenders.  The  pro- 
bation officers  were  policemen  with  scarcely  a  notion 
of  what  the  word  probation  meant. 

Into  these  crowded,  unwholesome  courts  every  morn- 
ing were  drawn  as  in  a  vast  net  hauled  from  the  depths 
of  the  underworld,  the  prostitute,  the  thug,  the  drunk, 
the  pickpocket,  the  pander  and  their  like.  Together 
with  these  were  herded  the  poor,  ignorant,  unfortunate 
violators  of  petty  ordinances,  the  misguided  first  offend- 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  13 

ers,  the  unjustly  accused,  the  respectable  citizens,  the 
poor  forlorn  women  with  their  children  seeking  redress 
from  deserting  husbands,  young,  wayward  and  unfor- 
tunate girls  and  boys  over  sixteen  years  of  age. 

It  was  an  outrage  to  respectable  people,  a  shameful 
wrong  to  the  unfortunate  and  the  ignorant,  and  general 
injustice  and  unfairness  to  all. 

The  Charity  Organization  Society  Acts 

A  few  citizens  had  been  conscious  of  these  evils  for 
some  years,  and  in  1907  the  Charity  Organization  Soci- 
ety was  urged  to  take  up  the  reform  of  these  courts  as 
one  of  the  chief  undertakings  of  its  newly  created 
Department  for  the  Improvement  of  Social  Conditions. 

The  suggestion  met  with  approval  and  that  year  a  bill 
was  prepared  and  introduced  in  the  legislature  calling 
for  the  appointment  by  the  Governor  of  a  Commission 
vested  with  full  power  to  investigate  the  workings  of 
these  Courts  in  all  their  ramifications.  Owing  to  politi- 
cal opposition  the  bill  was  not  successful. 

The  Page  Commission  Appointed 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  was  stated  that  no 
change  in  the  existing  situation  could  be  accomplished 
so  long  as  the  personnel  of  the  magistrates  and  judges 
remained  as  it  was — and  that  it  was  hopeless  to  expect 
to  secure  such  legislation  so  long  as  political  parties 
had  the  roots  of  their  power  in  these  courts,  the  year 
following  the  bill  was  reintroduced  and  after  a  strenu- 
ous campaign  its  passage  was  secured.  As  enacted,  the 
Commission  was  to  consist  of  two  Senators,  three  mem- 
bers of  Assembly  and  two  citizens  to  be  appointed  by 
the  Governor.    The  personnel  of  the  Commission  was 


14  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

Alfred  R.  Page,  Chairman,  Thomas  F.  Grady,  James  A. 
Francis,  Charles  F.  Murphy,  Alfred  E.  Smith,  members 
of  the  legislature,  and  Bronson  Winthrop  of  New  York 
and  John  Alan  Hamilton  of  Buffalo  from  outside  the 
legislature.  Judge  Julius  M.  Mayer  was  appointed  as 
counsel  to  the  Commission. 

For  two  years  this  Commission  held  hearings  and 
gathered  facts  regarding  these  courts,  submitting  their 
final  report  to  the  legislature  in  1910.  With  it  they  sub- 
mitted a  bill  embodying  the  changes  recommended. 
This  was  enacted  into  law  and  is  known  as  the  Inferior 
Criminal  Courts  Act  of  1910. 

With  this  Act  the  Commission  went  out  of  existence. 

The  New  Law  Governing  the  Courts 

The  new  law  provided  for  sweeping  changes  in  the 
administration  of  the  courts.  In  the  Magistrates' 
Courts  it  provided  for  centralized  administrative  con- 
trol through  the  appointment  of  a  chief  magistrate;  for 
the  reorganization  of  the  court  rooms  and  procedure; 
for  the  removal  of  the  police  attendants  and  police 
probation  officers  and  the  substitution  of  civilian  atten- 
dants and  probation  officers  and  for  a  real  probation 
system  under  a  chief  probation  officer.  Similar  changes 
were  made  for  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  and  for 
the  Children's  Courts. 

Many  of  the  requirements  of  this  new  Page  Law,  as 
it  was  called,  and  many  of  the  Commission's  suggestions 
were  of  such  character  as  to  require  much  study,  planning 
and  adjustment  before  they  could  be  put  into  effect. 

Nor  was  the  Page  Law  perfect.  It  was  looked  upon 
by  its  drafters  as  a  beginning.  They  recognized  that 
the  new  organization  would  bring  to  light  other  defects. 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  15 

This  beginning  made  by  the  Page  Commission  and 
the  passage  of  the  Page  Law  pointed  toward  the  ideal 
of  a  scientific,  dignified  and  kindly  administration  of 
the  criminal  law. 

The  Committee  on  Criminal  Courts  Organized 

The  Charity  Organization  Society  felt  that  it  must 
follow  up  what  had  been  begun  and  therefore  organized 
the  Committee  on  Criminal  Courts  as  a  part  of  the 
Department  for  Improving  Social  Conditions,  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  that  the  reforms  advocated  by  the 
Page  Commission  were  carried  into  effect  and  of  bring- 
ing to  the  support  of  this  work  a  strong  body  of  public 
opinion. 

The  keynote  of  the  work  of  this  Committee  from  the 
start  has  been  sympathetic  cooperation.  Its  purpose 
has  been  to  aid  in  carrying  into  effect  the  spirit  as  well 
as  the  letter  of  the  Page  Commission's  report  and 
through  scientific  study  and  cooperative  effort  to  bring 
about  such  other  reforms  as  would  help  measurably 
to  improve  the  courts. 

The  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  this  work,  made  a  generous  appropria- 
tion for  its  support.  In  the  fall  of  1910  the  Committee 
organized  with  an  executive  staff  and  began  its  work. 
At  the  end  of  six  years  it  may  be  interesting  to  look 
back  at  its  accomplishments. 

Its  work  has  been  so  intimately  associated  with  the 
endeavors  of  high  minded  and  zealous  court  and  admin- 
istrative officials  and  other  public  spirited  citizens  that 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  what  has  been  done  is 
the  accomplishment  of  all  working  together  in  a  com- 
mon cause;    for  without  the  helpful  and  sympathetic 


16  THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

cooperation   of   others   the  efforts  of  the  Committee 
would  have  gone  for  naught. 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  the  unselfish  and  untiring 
work  of  the  Chief  City  Magistrate  and  other  members 
of  the  Board  of  Magistrates  and  the  Presiding  Justice 
and  his  associates  on  the  Children's  Court  bench.  It 
has  been  a  privilege  to  the  Committee  to  have  had  its 
share  in  helping  them  to  determine  the  best  means  of 
reform  and  in  aiding  them  to  put  them  into  effect. 

Holding  the  Gains  that  Had  Been  Made 

The  Committee's  constructive  work  had  hardly  got- 
ten well  under  way  before  it  was  called  upon  to  bend  all 
its  energies  to  save  what  had  been  accomplished  by  the 
Page  Commission  and  by  the  passage  of  the  Page  Law. 

The  Commission  had  worked  so  quietly  and  the  law 
had  been  passed  with  so  little  publicity  that  the  poli- 
ticians were  not  aware  of  the  full  import  of  its  changes. 
So  effective  did  the  measures  of  reform  loom  up  when  the 
reorganization  began  that,  to  save  these  courts  as  pre- 
serves for  political  plunder,  emergency  measures  were 
resorted  to.  The  first  measure  was  no  less  than  a  gen- 
eral 'Ripper  Bill'  to  legislate  out  of  office  all  of  the 
existing  magistrates  and  justices  and  substitute  for 
them  new  judges  not  to  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor 
as  heretofore  but  to  be  elected  by  districts.  Thus,  at 
one  stroke,  the  bill  not  only  undid  all  that  the  two  years' 
work  of  the  Page  Commission  had  sought  to  accomplish, 
but  went  further  to  plunge  these  courts  once  more  into 
the  lowest  depths  of  ward  politics.  As  an  incident  it 
involved  the  abolition  of  the  Night  Courts  and  the 
Domestic  Relations  Courts,  two  of  the  special  courts 
that  had  been  especial  features  of  the  new  law. 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  17 

Ripper  Legislation  Defeated 

The  fight  to  defeat  this  bill  was  a  hard  one.  The 
Committee  enlisted  the  interest  and  support  of  public- 
spirited  citizens  and  informed  the  general  public  of  the 
critical  situation.  After  a  difficult  and  harassing  cam- 
paign the  bill  was  defeated. 

So  tenaciously  do  the  politicians  hold  to  the  hope  of 
restoring  to  their  fold  the  patronage  of  these  courts  that 
nearly  every  year  since,  the  Committee  and  the  magis- 
trates have  had  to  watch  for  and  fight  similar  legislation. 

The  Legislative  Watch 

Nowhere  is  eternal  vigilance  more  necessary  than  in 
keeping  informed  regarding  proposed  legislation  affect- 
ing these  courts  in  each  legislative  session.  The  Com- 
mittee has  found  it  necessary  to  watch  from  a  dozen  to 
more  than  a  hundred  bills  in  each  session  to  prevent  a 
diversity  of  legislation  ruinous  to  the  good  that  has 
already  been  accomplished.  Some  of  these  measures 
are  viciously  bad,  others  are  crudely  drawn  and  ill  con- 
sidered, others  are  introduced  to  serve  a  passing  popular 
fancy.  In  each  session  the  Committee  scrutinizes  each 
of  these  bills  and  carefully  weighs  its  effect  on  the  court 
system  and  brings  its  influence  to  bear  on  the  side  that 
will  work  for  what  its  knowledge  and  experience  shows 
to  be  the  best  interests  of  the  courts. 

Progress  in  the  Magistrates'  Courts 

When  the  Page  Law  went  into  effect  Mayor  Gaynor 
appointed  a  Chief  City  Magistrate  for  Manhattan  and 
the  Bronx.  The  task  before  bim  was  a  difficult  and 
trying  one.    He  had  first  to  organize  a  central  bureau  of 


18  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

administration,  to  reorganize  and  standardize  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  district  courts,  to  supplant  the 
police  attendants  and  police  probation  officers  with 
civilian  attendants  and  probation  officers,  to  do  away 
with  'the  bridge'  in  the  court  rooms  and  its  attendant, 
unfair  and  archaic  court  proceedings.  Aside  from  this 
he  had  to  organize  into  an  executive  body  the  board  of 
magistrates  who  heretofore  had  taken  little  if  any  re- 
sponsibility for  the  administrative  machinery. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  reorganization  the  daily  busi- 
ness had  to  go  on  uninterruptedly.  No  increase  in  staff 
was  given  to  him  temporarily  so  that  he  and  some 
trusted  helpers  could  devote  themselves  exclusively  to 
the  business  of  reorganization. 

Reorganizing  the  Record  System 

The  organization  of  the  Committee  on  Criminal 
Courts  was  timely.  Their  proffered  services  were  gladly 
accepted.  The  staff  of  the  Committee  immediately 
set  to  work  to  help.  The  first  and  most  essential  step 
in  the  reorganization  and  standardization  of  the  district 
courts  was  the  establishment  under  central  administra- 
tion of  a  record  bureau. 

The  court  records  were  in  a  chaotic  condition.  There 
was  no  centralized  control — no  checking  up.  In  fact 
it  would  have  been  quite  impossible  to  have  given  any- 
thing approaching  an  accurate  statement  even  of  the 
number  of  persons  arraigned  and  convicted  in  the  courts. 
There  was  no  central  place  where  the  previous  court 
record  of  a  person  convicted  could  be  had. 

A  proper  system  of  records  centrally  controlled  was 
essential  to  any  constructive  work.  The  Committee 
set  about  to  help  develop  such  a  system.    After  care- 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  19 

ful  study  of  the  situation  the  Secretary  submitted  a 
carefully  planned  scheme  for  a  comprehensive  record 
system.  It  provided  that  for  each  case  arraigned  in  the 
district  courts  throughout  the  city  a  card  be  sent  to  the 
central  office  and  there  properly  filed  for  ready  reference 
and  as  a  basis  for  statistical  compilation  for  the  annual 
report  of  the  courts.  These  cards  contained  the  im- 
portant facts  regarding  the  defendant  and  the  offense 
committed. 

The  courts  gladly  adopted  the  plan  so  carefully 
worked  out  and  the  Committee  helped  to  secure  for 
them  an  appropriation  of  $12,000  from  the  city  to 
provide  the  necessary  staff  and  equipment. 

From  this  original  basis  the  statistical  bureau  has 
steadily  developed  in  usefulness  and  value  to  the  courts 
until  in  1915  with  the  merging  of  the  two  divisions,  the 
bureau  of  records  made  statistical  compilation  for 
approximately  a  quarter  of  a  million  arraignments. 

Seeking  a  Standard  of  Justice 

In  the  Magistrates'  Courts  the  judges  sit  alone.  In 
interpreting  the  law,  in  adjudging  guilt  or  innocence, 
in  imposing  measures  for  punishment  or  reformation 
there  was  no  check  on  the  individual  magistrate.  It  was 
common  knowledge  that  in  the  dispositions  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  coming  before  these  men  that  justice 
often  bore  the  marks  of  the  personalities  and  peculi- 
arities of  the  various  magistrates.  Certain  magistrates 
were  known  as  'easy'  magistrates,  others  as  'hard'  ones. 

In  1913  the  Committee  urged  and  secured  an  amend- 
ment of  the  law  so  that  cases  could  not  be  jockeyed 
from  one  court  to  another  in  order  to  come  before  one 
of  the  'easy'  magistrates. 


20  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

The  magistrates  often  did  not  know  their  own  pecu- 
liarities as  compared  with  their  colleagues  nor  was  it 
known  with  what  classes  of  offenses  certain  magis- 
trates were  particularly  lenient.  In  fact,  no  one  knew 
whether  there  was  any  standard  of  justice,  or,  if  such 
standard  existed,  what  magistrates  followed  it. 

The  establishment  of  the  central  bureau  of  records 
made  it  possible  to  study  the  work  of  the  individual 
magistrates.  After  the  system  was  well  established  the 
Committee,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  Chief  City 
Magistrate,  set  about  to  make  such  a  comparison. 

The  variation  in  dispositions  of  cases  by  the  several 
magistrates  sitting  in  the  Women's  Night  Court  was 
first  studied.  A  great  divergence  of  action  by  different 
magistrates  on  similar  cases  was  found.  The  graphic 
presentation  to  the  magistrates  of  this  divergence  was 
such  a  help  in  bringing  about  a  standardization  of 
judicial  methods  that  it  was  determined  to  make  similar 
analysis  of  the  work  of  all  the  magistrates  of  Manhattan 
and  the  Bronx.  These  tabulations  were  done  with 
great  care  and  the  figures  were  illustrated  graphically. 
The  magistrates  were  greatly  impressed  with  the  value 
of  these  statistics  and  they  were  included  in  the  annual 
report  of  the  courts.*  Since  then  such  presentation 
has  been  regularly  included  in  the  report  of  the  courts 
of  the  entire  city. 

The  charts  showed  that  each  magistrate  was  a  law 
unto  himself.  All  sat  in  the  same  courts,  all  handled  a 
class  of  offenders  that  was  fundamentally  similar  in 
the  main;  but  there  was  tremendous  divergence  in 
treatment.  One  magistrate  discharged  slightly  less 
than  six  per  cent,  of  the  cases  brought  before  him  on 

*  Note.    See  Annual  Report,  Magistrates'  Courts,  1st  Division,  year  1914. 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  21 

charge  of  vagrancy  and  convicted  the  remainder,  while 
another  handling  a  similar  class  of  cases  discharged 
nearly  eighty-two  per  cent,  of  them.  One  suspended 
sentence  in  not  one  case  convicted  of  public  intoxica- 
tion while  another  suspended  sentence  in  seventy-two 
per  cent,  of  the  cases  convicted. 

This  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  the  first  magis- 
trate is  right  and  that  the  other  one  is  wrong,  or  that 
one  is  careful  and  painstaking  and  the  other  careless 
and  easy-going.  It  means  that  their  viewpoints  differ 
fundamentally  and  that  each  would  benefit  by  knowing 
what  the  other  and  his  colleagues  are  doing.  By  giving 
the  magistrates  this  means  of  studying  and  comparing 
their  work  they  undoubtedly  will  arrive  at  a  more 
just  and  unbiased  flexible  standard  of  dealing  with 
cases.  There  will  be  more  uniformity  of  treatment  of 
similar  classes  of  offenders  and  in  the  end  justice  will 
be  better  served.  This  is  pioneer  work  in  the  scientific 
analysis  of  the  results  accomplished  by  our  courts. 

It  may  be  urged  that  there  should  be  no  uniformity 
in  handling  different  offenders  who  commit  similar 
offenses  and  that  any  standardization  will  result  in  a 
rigidity  of  method  which  will  not  meet  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  individual  cases;  that  as  no  two  cases 
are  absolutely  alike  it  is  undesirable  to  create  a  set 
standard  in  dealing  with  them.  The  Committee's  tab- 
ulations do  not  set  forth  any  arbitrary  path  of  procedure 
for  each  case.  They  simply  display  any  unconscious 
differences  of  general  policy  among  the  magistrates  so 
great  as  to  hurt  the  work  of  the  courts  as  a  whole.  It 
does  not  stand  to  reason  that  a  thousand  cases  of  any 
offense  handled  by  one  magistrate  during  a  year  can 
differ  so  radically  in  the  aggregate  from  a  thousand  of 


22  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

the  same  class  handled  during  the  same  period  by 
another  magistrate  as  to  warrant  the  one  magistrate's 
discharging  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  his  thousand  and 
the  other's  discharging  only  five  per  cent. 

What  a  chart  showing  such  extreme  differences  of 
policy  does  is  to  give  each  magistrate  a  perspective  of  his 
own  work  from  the  viewpoint  of  that  of  his  colleagues 
and  to  enable  him  to  see  where  he  is  in  general  too 
lenient  or  too  severe  and  so  adapt  himself  in  the  future 
to  the  normal  standard  of  the  others.  One  needs  but 
to  consider  that  yearly  approximately  240,000  cases 
are  arraigned  in  the  Magistrates'  Courts  of  the  city  to 
appreciate  the  far-reaching  effect  of  this  standardiza- 
tion of  justice.    Truly  it  is  of  fundamental  importance. 

First  Offender  and  the  'Repeater' 

The  repeated  offender  is  a  great  problem  for  the 
courts  and  the  community.  The  community  should  be 
protected  from  him  and  he  should  be  given  punishment 
or  treatment  best  suited  to  correct  the  habits  of  delin- 
quency and  criminality. 

The  old  recipe  for  rabbit  pie — first  catch  the  hare, 
holds  good  here.  The  courts  cannot  deal  with  these 
Repeaters'  properly  until  they  are  known.  Similarly 
the  court  cannot  treat  the  first  offenders  with  the 
leniency  a^id  consideration  best  adapted  to  prevent 
further  delinquency  unless  they  can  be  differentiated 
from  the  others. 


Habitual  delinquency  has  no  outstanding  earmarks. 
A  clever  crook  often  simulates  sanctified  piety  or  in- 
jured innocence  to  the  complete  deception  of  the  court. 
Names  may  be  changed  at  will.  There  are  many  courts 
and  many  magistrates.     An  offender  may  pass  off  in 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  23 

many  different  courts  before  as  many  different  magis- 
trates as  a  first  offender  without  recognition.  The  fin- 
gerprint record  is  the  only  certain  way  of  identifying 
the  previous  offender.  An  individual  may  change  his 
name,  his  appearance  and  dress,  but  he  cannot  change 
his  fingerprints.    The  record  is  accurate  and  infallible. 

Establishing  the  Fingerprint  System 

The  Page  Commission  recognized  this.  The  Page 
Law  provided  for  the  fingerprinting  of  convicted  prosti- 
tutes.   This  was  begun  in  1910. 

It  worked  so  well  that  in  1913  the  Committee  secured 
legislation  extending  it  to  other  classes  of  offenders. 
This  legislation  compelled  the  fingerprinting  of  persons 
convicted  of  public  intoxication  and  vagrancy  and 
allowed  the  fingerprinting  of  such  other  offenders  as 
the  Board  of  Magistrates  might  agree  upon. 

This  required  the  use  of  fingerprinting  in  all  the  dis- 
trict courts.  It  could  not  be  done  without  a  staff  of 
experts,  equipment,  and  a  properly  organized  system. 

The  staff  of  the  Committee  helped  to  devise  a  system 
for  the  taking,  classification,  duplication,  and  inter- 
change of  fingerprint  records  of  persons  convicted 
throughout  the  city.  It  helped  to  secure  provisions  for 
fingerprint  experts,  equipment  for  taking  prints  and 
filing  records  and  developed  a  carefully  thought-out 
administrative  system.  Under  the  system  that  was  so 
organized,  when  a  person  is  convicted  in  any  of  the 
courts  his  prints  are  sent  to  the  central  bureau.  Here 
sufficient  photographic  duplicates  are  made  to  supply 
one  copy  for  each  district  court.  By  this  method  each 
court  has  a  complete  up-to-date  file  of  all  fingerprint 
records  taken  in  all  the  courts  of  the  city.    Now,  with 


24  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  outlying  courts,  within 
the  space  of  five  minutes  after  conviction  the  magis- 
trate in  any  court  is  enabled  to  have  before  him  the 
record  of  any  previous  convictions  in  any  other  court 
in  the  city. 

Extending  the  Fingerprint  System 

The  system  was  first  developed  in  Manhattan  and 
the  Bronx  and  has  been  extended  to  Brooklyn  since. 

The  files  already  contain  a  comparatively  complete 
census  of  the  'repeaters'  among  the  classes  of  offenders 
of  which  fingerprints  are  taken.  There  are  many 
records  of  persons  with  from  five  to  twenty  convictions. 
A  typical  example  of  this  is  the  case  of  the  person 
arraigned  for  public  intoxication  on  the  22nd  of  July, 
1913,  in  the  Third  District  Court  before  Magistrate 
Herbert  under  the  name  of  Nellie  O'Connor.  Since 
this  date  up  to  April  19,  1916,  this  same  woman  had 
been  arraigned  nineteen  additional  times  under  eight 
different  names  in  three  different  district  courts  and 
before  nine  different  magistrates.  With  any  other  sys- 
tem than  the  fingerprint  system  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  identify  her  each  time  as  the  same  woman. 
It  is  of  great  help  in  committing  to  the  Parole  Board, 
and  if  farm  colonies  for  women  and  vagrants  ever 
materialize  the  magistrates  will  be  able  to  tell  who 
are  eligible  for  this  more  or  less  permanent  custodial 
care. 

The  magistrates  have  extended  the  system  to  include 
the  following  offenses  in  addition  to  intoxication, 
vagrancy  and  prostitution:  Disorderly  conduct,  jost- 
ling, soliciting  alms,  mashing  and  degeneracy.  The 
Chief  City  Magistrate  is  the  authority  for  saying  that 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  25 

due  to  fingerprinting  of  'jostlers'  the  city  has  been 
practically  rid  of  pickpockets. 

As  the  Committee  worked  from  year  to  year  on  the 
administrative  organization  of  the  Magistrates'  Courts, 
it  became  apparent  that  further  legislation  would  be 
necessary  in  the  same  direction  as  the  original  Page 
Commission  report  and  the  Page  Law  had  pointed  out. 

A  Single  Board  of  Magistrates  Created 

The  Page  Law  had  organized  these  courts  under  two 
distinct  organizations  with  separate  boards  of  magis- 
trates and  chief  city  magistrates,  the  First  Division 
comprising  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx  and  the  Second 
Division  comprising  Brooklyn,  Queens  and  Richmond. 
As  the  administrative  machinery  of  these  two  separate 
divisions  grew,  there  came  to  be  a  greater  and  greater 
divergence  in  administrative  methods.  It  was  not 
possible  to  have  the  close  correlation  and  cooperation 
between  the  two  divisions  that  was  for  the  best  inter- 
ests of  justice  throughout  the  city.  Each  division  had 
its  separate  bureau  of  records  and  the  courts  of  the 
respective  divisions  did  not  automatically  get  a  defend- 
ant's previous  records  for  the  entire  city.  A  striking 
example  of  this  was  given  when  a  prostitute  who  had 
been  arrested  thirteen  times  in  Manhattan  was  later 
arrested  in  Brooklyn  and  discharged  as  a  first  offender. 
There  had  grown  up  also  a  great  divergence  in  the 
probation  system.  There  was  little  interchange  of 
records  and  no  unity  or  standardization  of  methods. 

The  Committee  was  able  to  secure  legislation  that 
provided  for  the  centralization  of  all  of  the  Magistrates' 
Courts  under  one  Board  of  Magistrates.  It  was  this 
legislation  that  enabled  the  magistrates  with  the  Com- 


26  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

mittee's  help  to  extend  the  unified  fingerprint  system, 
record  system  and  probation  system  throughout  the 
city.  The  details  of  this  work  have  not  all  been  com- 
pleted. However,  sufficient  has  been  accomplished  in 
this  direction  to  show  the  great  wisdom  of  this  step  of 
centralization.  Even  those  who  most  stubbornly  op- 
posed the  change  now  recognize  the  benefit  of  it  and 
are  enthusiastic  in  endorsing  the  change. 

Additional  Jurisdiction  for  the  Magistrates 

As  the  Committee  went  about  the  courts  and  studied 
closely  their  administration  it  found  that  in  a  great 
many  cases  of  a  very  trivial  nature  daily  coming  before 
the  magistrates  they  did  not  have  the  power  to  dispose 
of  them  summarily,  but  were  compelled  to  hold  them 
for  a  second  trial  before  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions. 
This  seemed  to  be  an  unwise  procedure  because  in 
most  of  these  cases  the  defendant  as  well  as  the  com- 
plainant would  have  preferred  to  have  the  case  dis- 
posed of  then  and  there  rather  than  be  put  to  the 
hardship  and  inconvenience  of  a  second  trial. 

Such  trivial  offenses  as  leaving  a  pickle  barrel  un- 
covered, of  mixing  the  garbage  with  ashes,  had  to  be 
handled  in  this  manner  because  technically,  according 
to  the  statute,  they  were  misdemeanors.  The  law  pro- 
vided that  misdemeanors  might  be  tried  only  by  a 
Court  of  Special  Sessions.  The  magistrates  did  not 
have  Special  Sessions  powers. 

The  Double  Trial 

The  Committee  felt  that  great  hardships  resulted 
from  such  a  system  and  that  something  should  be  done 
to    remedy    it.      It,    therefore,    made    an    exhaustive 


THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY  27 

inquiry  into  these  conditions.  The  staff  studied  the 
number  of  these  cases  in  the  Magistrates'  Courts  cov- 
ering a  three-months'  period  of  time.  It  then  followed 
these  cases  through  their  history  until  disposed  of  by 
the  Court  of  Special  Sessions. 

Legal  'Red  Tape'  Oppressed  the  Poor 

The  findings  were  a  revelation.  It  hardly  would  be 
believed  that  through  carelessness  and  thoughtlessness 
a  great  community  could  be  the  means  of  so  much  petty 
oppression  as  the  facts  showed.  It  was  found  that 
great  hardships  did  result.  It  was  revealed  that  on  the 
average  every  day  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  ac- 
quitted or  let  go  without  trial,  because  of  insufficient 
evidence,  one  person  who  had  been  held  in  jail  over  a 
week,  and  that  on  the  average  every  year  nearly  800 
persons  were  thus  deprived  of  their  liberty  for  periods 
ranging  from  three  to  twenty-one  days  in  length.  In 
general,  the  persons  so  treated  and  so  committed  had 
not  been  accused  of  a  crime  that  would  warrant  even 
so  great  a  measure  of  punishment  had  they  been  found 
guilty.  Some  of  the  offenses  committed  were  no 
more  serious  than  that  of  a  thrifty  foreigner  using  a 
transfer  illegally.  The  imprisonment  of  this  great 
number  of  persons  for  this  length  of  time  was  not  in- 
flicted upon  them  because  of  their  alleged  violation  of 
the  law  but  because  they  were  too  poor  to  get  bail. 
Those  having  money  or  friends  escaped.  The  poor  and 
the  friendless  were  imprisoned.  It  was  what  they  got 
for  being  poor! 

Such  treatment  meant  not  only  a  few  days'  humilia- 
tion and  hardship  in  jail,  but  it  often  meant  jobs  lost 
and  unemployment  when  released.     In  many  cases  it 


28  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

meant  families  deprived  of  bread  and  a  whole  future 
jeopardized. 

The  Waste  and  Unfairness  of  the  Double  Trial 

This  procedure  was  as  unjustifiable  from  the  economic 
point  of  view  as  from  the  humanitarian  standpoint. 
The  duplication  of  trials  was  sheer  waste  of  time  of 
court  employees.  Policemen,  city  inspectors,  citizen 
complainants  and  witnesses  had  to  spend  days  in  court 
when  an  hour  would  have  sufficed. 

The  system  often  resulted  in  miscarriage  of  justice. 
Witnesses  were  bothered  too  much  and  often  refused 
to  appear  on  second  hearings.  Consequently,  real 
criminals  often  escaped  conviction. 

The  Evil  Remedied 

After  finding  the  extent  of  the  evil  the  Committee 
set  about  to  remedy  it.  The  remedy  was  very  simple, 
but  difficult  to  secure.  It  proposed  legislation  to  give 
the  magistrates  powers  of  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions 
to  dispose  of  these  petty  misdemeanors.  This  amend- 
ment was  included  in  the  Committee's  general  reorgan- 
ization bill  of  1915  introduced  in  the  legislature  by 
Senator  Mills.  After  a  strenuous  campaign  against 
entrenched  and  bitter  opposition  this  bill  was  passed. 

For  more  than  a  year  now  the  system  has  been  work- 
ing with  excellent  results.  Cases  are  handled  with  all 
the  safeguards  of  justice  required.  The  defendants  or 
complainants  if  they  choose  may  still  have  the  cases 
tried  before  three  judges  in  the  Court  of  Special  Ses- 
sions. That  they  seldom  do  elect  to  have  the  trial  is 
proof  positive  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Committee's  plan. 
During  the  first  complete  year  after  the  change  over 


THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY  29 

5,000  such  cases  were  tried  by  magistrates.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  say  how  many  of  this  number  would 
have  been  unable  to  give  bail  and  would  necessarily 
have  been  imprisoned  awaiting  a  second  trial.  In  all 
of  the  cases  much  annoyance,  waste  of  time  and  dupli- 
cation of  work  has  been  avoided. 

Additional  District  Court  Organized 

The  very  rapid  growth  in  population  on  the  upper 
west  side  swamped  the  Harlem  District  Court  with 
business.  Some  days  as  many  as  300  cases  were  brought 
in  for  disposition.  It  was  patent  that  something  must 
be  done  to  relieve  the  situation.  The  Committee  made 
an  exhaustive  inquiry  into  the  territorial  distribution 
of  cases  and  in  1913  a  new  court  district  was  formed 
upon  request  of  the  Board  of  Magistrates  and  a  new 
court  was  established  on  the  upper  west  side  at  166th 
Street  and  St.  Nicholas  Avenue. 

In  the  effort  to  procure  this  court  the  Committee's 
statistical  study  gave  effective  aid.  It  showed  the  neces- 
sity for  the  additional  court  and  pointed  out  the  most 
advantageous  location  for  it.  The  staff  supported  the 
request  for  the  court  and  aided  in  the  plans  for  the 
building. 

Court  Buildings 

Coordinate  with  the  development  of  the  organization 
of  the  courts  from  the  administrative  side  the  campaign 
for  better  court  buildings  has  been  waged.  The  Page 
Commission  found  the  Magistrates'  Courts  as  a  rule 
housed  in  miserable,  unsanitary,  noisy  quarters  badly 
arranged  for  the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the 
court.    The  same  conditions  prevailed  when  the  Com- 


30  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

mittee  was  formed  to  lend  a  helping  hand  in  bettering 
things. 

No  one  who  has  not  fathered  a  project  for  a  new 
building,  to  be  erected  by  city  funds,  from  its  original 
plans  through  to  its  completion  can  have  any  concep- 
tion of  the  tedious,  discouraging  process.  The  changes 
in  the  plans  themselves  and  the  changes  in  the  minds  of 
the  officials  are  legion.  Appropriations  are  made  and 
withdrawn  and  made  again  only  to  be  held  up  by  unac- 
countable delays  and  unlooked-for  financial  crises. 
Such  has  been  the  experience  of  the  Sub-committee  on 
Buildings  who  with  the  Chief  City  Magistrate  has 
worked  so  persistently  and  patiently  to  get  a  suitable 
court  building  for  the  Third  District  Magistrates' 
Court  located  in  the  heart  of  the  East  Side's  foreign 
population. 

The  Old  Essex  Market  Courthouse 

When  the  Committee  began  its  work  this  court  was 
housed  in  the  old  Essex  Market  Courthouse.  This 
building  was  an  open  disgrace.  In  speaking  of  its  sani- 
tary condition  the  Chief  City  Magistrate  has  often 
said  that  the  only  thing  that  kept  the  court  staff  and 
those  who  frequented  the  court  from  destruction  by 
the  infectious  germs  and  vermin  was  that  these  bacteria 
and  parasites  were  there  in  such  legion  and  variety 
that  their  deadliness  was  neutralized  in  a  warfare  among 
themselves  for  room  for  existence. 

A  Model  Courthouse  Planned 

Obviously,  something  had  to  be  done.  While  plans 
were  being  developed  for  a  new  court  building,  the  court 
was  moved  to  the  best  available  temporary  quarters 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  31 

in  the  neighborhood.  Cooperating  with  the  Board  of 
Estimate  plans  were  perfected  for  a  building  to  house 
a  district  prison  and  the  district  municipal  court  as 
well  as  the  Magistrates'  Court.  It  was  sought  to  pro- 
vide model  accommodations  for  the  Magistrates'  Court 
and  the  prison.  While  the  plans  were  being  perfected 
a  financial  crisis  overtook  the  city  and  money  was  not 
available  for  this  monumental  building.  Not  daunted 
by  this  disappointment  the  Committee  sought  out 
ways  by  which  the  court  might  be  adequately  housed 
within  the  limited  funds  available.  It  proposed  the 
erection  on  half  of  the  site  available  for  the  original 
plan  a  building  to  house  the  Magistrates'  Court  alone. 
The  plan  of  this  building  was  so  carefully  worked  out 
that  it  will  serve  as  a  working  model  for  district  courts 
to  be  erected  in  the  future.  This  modified  plan  met 
with  the  approval  of  the  financial  authorities  of  the 
city  and  $150,000  has  been  appropriated  for  the  build- 
ing, leaving  $150,000  available  for  other  purposes. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Committee  has  proposed  that  the 
money  saved  be  used  for  a  much-needed  Domestic 
Relations  Court  building.  The  plans  for  the  East  Side 
Court  are  approved,  the  money  is  now  available,  and 
the  architects  have  completed  the  working  drawings 
and  contracts  are  about  to  be  let.  This  building,  which 
will  be  a  model  of  its  kind,  is  the  outcome  of  much  care- 
ful and  patient  work  and  there  seems  no  reason  now 
why  within  a  year  the  building  will  not  be  completed 
and  ready  for  occupancy. 

In  similar  manner  better  quarters  were  secured  for 
the  Domestic  Relations  Court  and  the  Sixth  District 
Court  on  East  57th  Street. 


32  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

The  quarters  for  the  Domestic  Relations  Court  are 
still  hopelessly  inadequate  and  the  Committee  is  now 
endeavoring  to  secure  money  for  a  new  building  to  be 
built  out  of  the  money  left  over  from  the  original  appro- 
priation for  the  East  Side  Court  building. 

General  conditions  have  improved  in  other  court 
buildings,  but  as  yet  the  Magistrates'  Courts  are  as  a 
whole  badly  housed.  This  is  particularly  true  in 
Brooklyn.  In  the  future  the  Committee  must  devote 
much  energy  in  seeking  better  quarters  for  these  courts. 

SPECIAL  COURTS 

Women's  Night  Court 
In  discussing  the  question  of  prostitution,  the  Page 
Commission's  report  of  1910  said: 

No  subject  of  greater  difficulty  is  presented  to  the  police 
authorities,  the  magistrates,  courts  and  departments  of 
Charities  and  Corrections  than  that  of  prostitution. 

Women  of  this  class  are  arrested  upon  various  charges — 
such  as  vagrancy,  soliciting  for  purposes  of  prostitution,  dis- 
orderly conduct,  violation  of  the  Tenement  House  Law,  etc. 

It  is  practically  impossible  to  obtain  accurate  statistics 
on  this  subject.  .  .  The  magistrates  differ  widely  as  to 
the  disposition  of  such  cases.  .  .  At  present,  some  magis- 
trates pursue  a  practically  consistent  course  of  sending  these 
women  to  the  workhouse.  Others  quite  as  consistently  im- 
pose fines,  and  others  discharge,  while  nearly  all  place  on 
probation  some  cases  which  suggest  in  their  opinion  possibili- 
ties of  reform.     .     . 

If  a  young  woman  is  committed  to  the  workhouse  or 
county  jail,  she  is  thrown  into  association  with  older  and 
more  hardened  offenders.  Often  she  returns  from  imprison- 
ment to  find  that  what  little  possessions  she  had  have  been 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  33 

stolen  or  have  disappeared.  Her  incarceration  has  done  her 
no  good,  for  if  it  be  her  first  imprisonment  she  is  detained  but 
five  days.  She  has  no  opportunity  to  learn  a  useful  occupa- 
tion, and  she  returns,  perforce,  to  her  previous  method  of 
living.  If  she  is  fined,  she  must  in  some  manner  earn  the 
money  thus  lost  by  the  fine,  and  she  earns  it  in  the  same  way 
as  before  and  possibly,  also  by  thievery. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  she  is  discharged,  she  becomes 
defiant  and  plies  her  occupation  the  more  flagrantly  upon  the 
public  thoroughfare.  The  cumulative  sentence,  as  applied  to 
prostitutes,  works  most  inequitably.  .  .  This  condition 
has  largely  arisen  because  of  the  almost  complete  lack  of  any 
system  of  identification  of  the  Magistrates*  Courts. 

We  believe  that  the  first  step  in  the  combating  of  this 
problem  is  an  accurate  and  ready  means  of  identification. 

By  the  establishment  of  the  night  court  for  women,  it  will 
be  possible  to  install  at  that  court  an  efficient  system  of  iden- 
tification. 

With  the  reorganization  of  the  courts  under  the  Page 
Law  the  Night  Court  was  established  with  the  finger- 
print system  for  identification  of  previous  offenders  as 
suggested  by  the  Page  Commission. 

The  Social  Evil  Court  Established 

The  Committee  worked  in  cooperation  with  the  Chief 
City  Magistrate  in  making  plans  and  securing  legisla- 
tion which  centered  all  the  prostitution  cases  in  this 
Court,  making  it  the  social  evil  court  of  the  city.  Four 
magistrates  were  assigned  regularly  to  sit  alternately 
here.  They  have  become  specialists  in  this  work  and 
a  uniform  and  consistent  policy  of  treatment  of  this 
class  of  offenders  has  been  developed  with  a  flexible 
scale  of  certain  fixed  penalties  for  the  repeated  offenders 


34  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

and  more  lenient  and  constructive  programs  for  deal- 
ing with  the  first  offenders  and  the  reformable  girls. 

Fines  Abolished  as  Punishment  for  Prostitution 

In  the  past,  fining  had  been  considered  a  proper  pun- 
ishment for  women  of  the  street.  The  Committee 
pointed  out  the  inherent  viciousness  of  this  practice. 
A  pander  or  procurer  generally  paid  the  fine  and  the 
girl  went  out  on  the  street  again  to  get  the  money  to 
pay  her  debt.  Gradually,  the  magistrates  assigned  to 
the  Night  Court  were  induced  to  abandon  this  sort  of 
punishment.  In  1913  the  Committee  secured  legis- 
lation prohibiting  fining  altogether  as  a  punishment  for 
prostitution. 

Other  radical  changes  were  made  in  the  law. 

The  cumulative  sentence  law  with  all  the  evils 
pointed  out  by  the  Page  Commission  was  abolished. 

Often  the  magistrate  wished  to  have  further  facts 
before  finally  disposing  of  a  defendant  after  she  had 
been  convicted.  It  was  necessary  to  detain  these  girls 
in  the  district  prisons  awaiting  the  results  of  such  an 
inquiry.  Here  they  were  locked  up  with  the  habitual 
drunkards,  with  the  brazen  women  of  the  streets  and 
other  hardened  offenders.  As  a  result,  the  magistrates 
often  disposed  of  cases  without  investigation  as  the 
lesser  of  two  evils.  The  Committee  brought  about  a 
change  in  the  law  which  enabled  the  magistrates  to 
commit  such  girls  temporarily  to  some  sheltering  home 
or  institution  or  place  them  on  parole  while  the  investi- 
gation was  going  forward.  The  law  was  also  amended 
to  allow  the  magistrates  to  place  women  convicted  of 
prostitution  other  than  Tenement  House  prostitution 
on  probation  or  give  them  a  suspended  sentence. 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  35 

It  was  not  uncommon  some  years  ago  for  a  magis- 
trate to  commit  a  girl  to  certain  of  the  various  reforma- 
tory institutions  on  one  night  and  three  nights  later  to 
meet  the  same  girl  walking  the  streets.  What  happened 
was  that  the  girl  had  adopted  the  simple  expedient  of 
'raising  Cain*  at  the  institution,  breaking  dishes,  yelling 
and  shouting  all  night  and  in  general  making  herself 
such  a  nuisance  that  her  room  became  more  desirable 
than  her  company,  whereupon  those  in  charge  of  the 
institution  solved  the  difficult  problem  in  a  delightfully 
simple  way  by  'discharging'  her  for  bad  conduct.  Why 
a  larger  number  of  girls  did  not  discover  this  air-line 
method  of  release  remains  a  mystery.  This,  however, 
is  now  a  thing  of  the  past,  for  the  law  has  been  so 
amended  as  to  make  impossible  the  discharge  of  a  girl 
within  six  months  after  commitment,  except  with  the 
consent  of  the  magistrate  who  committed  her.  And 
even  then  there  must  be  a  written  report  from  the 
superintendent  of  the  institution  setting  forth  the  rea- 
sons for  such  recommendations.  Nor  is  a  release  the 
only  relief  in  such  a  situation.  The  magistrate  may 
recommit  the  girl  to  another  institution. 

Reformative  Treatment  Extended 

As  the  Women's  Night  Court  developed,  the  need  for 
proper  reformative  treatment  for  a  large  number  of  the 
girls  and  women  grew.  The  magistrates  were  often  at 
a  loss  to  know  what  to  do  with  the  better  class  of  girls. 

Bedford  State  Reformatory  for  Women  had  ap- 
proached the  ideal  in  the  handling  of  the  reformable 
young  women  offenders.  This  reformatory  was  not 
generally  known  and  appreciated  and  the  magistrates 
not  knowing  it,  were  not  using  it  to  its  full  capacity. 


36  THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

The  Committee  organized  a  party  of  the  magistrates 
and  committee  members  to  inspect  the  reformatory 
facilities  offered  by  Bedford.  The  magistrates  were 
much  impressed  and  from  then  on  sent  so  many  con- 
victed young  women  there  that  the  institution  was 
soon  seriously  embarrassed  for  lack  of  space  to  care  for 
them  all.  The  buildings  became  so  crowded  that  girls 
were  sleeping  in  the  corridors,  in  the  bathrooms  and 
even  the  gymnasium  had  to  be  turned  into  a  huge 
dormitory. 

Bedford  Reformatory  Outgrows  Its  Buildings 
The  Committee's  plan  had  worked  too  well.  There 
was  of  necessity  an  impairment  of  the  reformative  work 
in  such  crowded  conditions  and  there  was  great  danger 
of  the  discipline  breaking  down.  Something  had  to 
be  done. 

The  Board  of  Managers  requested  from  the  legisla- 
ture a  modest  appropriation  for  building  new  dormi- 
tories. The  State  examiners,  admitting  the  imperative 
need,  for  reasons  of  economy  recommended  only 
$58,000,  approximately  one-third  of  the  amount  re- 
quested. This  would  in  no  way  meet  the  need.  The 
Board  of  Managers  requested  the  help  of  the  Com- 
mittee. It  was  granted  provided  a  request  was  made 
for  sufficient  funds  to  build  the  institution  to  its  maxi- 
mum limit  compatible  with  the  ideal  reformative  meth- 
ods in  vogue.  Careful  estimates  were  made  and  $500,000 
was  asked  from  the  legislature. 

The  Committee  Secures  State  Appropriation 

for  New  Buildings 
The  Committee  waged  a  powerful  campaign  for  the 
appropriation  and  so  aroused  the  interest  of  public- 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  37 

spirited  citizens  and  the  public  in  general  that  $414,000 
was  appropriated  by  the  Legislature  for  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  institution.  This  accomplishment  was 
entirely  due  to  the  Committee's  intensive  work  in  its 
behalf.  The  buildings  are  now  completed  and  the  in- 
stitution is  able  to  handle  a  much  larger  number  of 
girls  yearly. 

The  Committee  also  introduced  legislation  which  be- 
came law  to  prevent  women  from  escaping  commitment 
to  Bedford  Reformatory  through  the  expedient  of 
stating  that  they  were  over  thirty  years  of  age.  This 
was  an  effective  means  of  escaping  commitment,  for 
the  magistrate  was  loath  to  take  a  chance  of  the 
woman's  release  on  Habeas  Corpus.  A  woman  may 
now  be  committed  to  Bedford  irrespective  of  her  stated 
age. 

In  spite  of  all  the  agitation  for  better  and  more  intel- 
ligent treatment  of  the  women  offenders,  New  York  is 
still  without  a  proper  prison  and  detention  home  for 
women.  The  excellent  work  of  the  judges  and  the 
enlightened  methods  of  reformation  are  only  half  way 
effective  in  the  face  of  prison  conditions  that  are  a 
relic  of  barbarism.  The  Page  Law  of  1910  provided  for 
the  erection  of  a  woman's  court  and  detention  home. 
The  city  took  no  action,  however.  An  agitation  was 
started  for  the  building  by  a  committee  of  prominent 
women  and  an  appropriation  of  $450,000  was  secured 
for  its  erection.  In  this  building  it  was  planned  to 
house  the  court  for  women  and  the  women's  prison  and 
detention  home.  All  women  offenders  would  then  be 
taken  charge  of  under  one  roof.  With  this  equipment 
a  rational  and  humanitarian  plan  for  the  treatment  of 
women  offenders  could  be  developed. 


38  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

It  fell  to  the  Committee's  lot  to  make  the  survey  nec- 
essary to  draw  the  plans  on  a  sound  basis  to  meet  the 
needs.  The  staff  made  a  careful  census  of  the  female 
prison  population.  It  calculated  the  necessary  require- 
ments for  a  proper  detention  home  and  court  modeled 
onjthe  most  enlightened  plan  and  with  the  architect 
worked  out  the  floor  plans  for  the  building.  Later 
considerable  additions  to  the  plans  were  made  by  others 
interested  in  the  building.  These  added  appreciably  to 
its  cost  and  made  it  impossible  to  erect  the  building 
within  the  appropriation.  The  Committee  did  not 
feel  justified  in  supporting  a  request  for  an  additional 
appropriation.  It  is  hoped  that  a  modification  of  the 
plans  may  be  made  so  that  this  much-needed  building 
may  be  erected. 

The  Domestic  Relations  Court 

By  the  Page  Law  the  establishment  of  the  Domestic 
Relations  Court  was  made  possible.  It  is  the  'divorce 
court  of  the  poor'.  To  it  come  women  in  distress  be- 
cause of  their  husband's  neglect  to  support  them  and 
their  children.  The  stories  they  tell  are  generally  sad, 
often  sordid,  and  always  pitiable.  The  poor  women 
after  days  of  privation  and  worry  and  with  much  trepi- 
dation come  to  this  court  as  the  last  resort  to  mend  the 
broken  families  and  to  get  the  bread  and  shelter  for 
themselves  and  their  children  that  are  due  them  from 
their  husbands. 

Before  the  reorganization  under  the  Page  Law  all 
these  cases  came  up  in  the  regular  district  courts  where 
in  the  rush  of  the  day's  business  they  could  be  given 
no  adequate  attention.  The  poor  women  of  necessity 
mingled   with   all   the   motley   crowd   of   prostitutes, 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  39 

drunks,  pickpockets  and  the  like  that  frequented  these 
courts.  The  Page  Law  took  these  cases  out  of  the 
district  courts  and  provided  for  their  hearing  in  a  special 
court  presided  over  by  judges  specially  assigned  to  the 
Domestic  Relations  Court. 

While  of  all  the  branches  of  the  court  work  these 
courts  furnish  the  most  fruitful  field  for  constructive 
work,  the  cases  are  also  the  most  difficult  to  treat 
successfully.  Seldom  is  the  family  breakdown  due  to 
the  shortcomings  of  the  man  alone.  Carelessness  on 
the  part  of  the  woman,  discouragement  because  of  low 
wage,  sickness  and  meddling  relatives,  one  or  all  are 
commonly  contributing  factors  that  must  be  dealt  with. 

The  volume  of  work  grew  so  rapidly  immediately 
upon  the  court's  establishment  that  the  machinery  has 
become  clogged  and  there  is  need  of  reorganization. 
The  benefit  of  experience  in  other  cities  and  a  wide 
knowledge  of  conditions  obtaining  here  is  necessary 
for  proper  constructive  work.  These  the  Committee 
has  sought  to  obtain. 

The  first  was  acquired  when  in  1915  a  member  of  the 
Committee  visited  the  Domestic  Relations  Courts  of 
Philadelphia,  Chicago,  Pittsburgh  and  Cleveland  to 
observe  the  way  these  cities  handle  the  problem  of 
non-supporting  heads  of  families.  A  full  written  report 
of  his  findings  has  been  submitted  to  the  Committee. 

The  second  it  acquired  by  the  assignment  of  a  mem- 
ber of  the  staff  specially  to  that  work,  who  has  made  a 
careful  survey  of  the  actual  operation  of  the  Domestic 
Relations  Court  in  Manhattan  from  the  standpoints  of 
law  and  procedure  and  social  justice.  Recommenda- 
tions have  been  submitted  to  the  Chief  City  Magistrate 
and  the  judges  presiding  in  this  court  and  have  been 


40  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

acted  upon  favorably.  The  member  of  the  staff,  an  ex- 
perienced case  worker,  was  later  assigned  to  the  Court 
under  the  joint  direction  of  the  magistrates  and  the 
Committee  to  carry  into  effect  the  changes  that  had 
been  agreed  upon.  Considerable  progress  has  already 
been  made  in  doing  away  with  unnecessary  hardships. 
The  chief  effort  is  in  the  direction  of  making  the  court 
procedure  as  easy  as  possible  for  these  already  worried 
and  harassed  women. 

Some  of  the  changes  desired  will  require  legislative 
enactments.  In  1916  the  Committee  after  very  careful 
study  drafted  a  proposed  act  materially  reforming  the 
administration  of  the  Domestic  Relations  Court.  It 
was  introduced  late  in  the  legislative  session  and  though 
the  Committee  hardly  hoped  to  have  it  become  a  law 
in  the  1916  session,  it  passed  both  branches  of  the  state 
legislature  but  did  not  receive  the  approval  of  the 
Mayor. 

The  physical  equipment  of  this  court  is  thoroughly 
inadequate  and  must  be  remedied  before  the  court  can 
be  well  organized.  The  Committee  with  the  Magis- 
trates is  seeking  to  get  an  appropriation  for  erecting  a 
building  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Children's  Court. 
Often  children  of  a  family  whose  father  is  on  probation 
in  the  Magistrates'  Courts  are  on  probation  to  officers 
in  the  Children's  Courts.  The  contemplated  change  of 
location  will  enable  these  two  closely  related  courts  to 
better  correlate  their  work  with  such  families. 

The  Municipal  Term  Court 

For  some  time  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee,  be- 
cause of  his  familiarity  with  the  administration  of  the 
city  and  state  departments,  had  recognized  to  what  a 


THE   FORGOTTEN  ARMY  41 

great  extent  their  effectiveness  depended  upon  the  sym- 
pathetic and  intelligent  cooperation  of  the  courts. 
Without  this  the  expensive  machinery  of  such  great 
departments  as  the  Health  Department,  Tenement 
House  Department,  State  Department  of  Labor  and 
Fire  Department  would  entirely  break  down  in  safe- 
guarding the  safety  and  health  of  the  community.  Such 
cooperation  was  difficult  when  inspectors  were  com- 
pelled to  bring  their  complaints  to  the  twenty  or  more 
district  courts  with  as  many  different  magistrates 
scattered  throughout  the  city.  Here  their  cases  were 
tried  along  with  a  hundred  or  so  other  cases  on  a  big 
calendar  and  much  time  was  lost  waiting  for  cases  to 
come  up.  The  laws  governing  these  departmental 
violations  are  highly  technical.  A  magistrate  in  a 
busy  district  court  had  not  the  time  to  acquaint  himself 
thoroughly  with  these  technicalities  nor  did  the  busy 
calendar  allow  him  to  give  the  cases  the  careful  con- 
sideration they  required. 

After  long  deliberation  and  a  careful  survey  of  the 
field  the  Committee  decided  to  seek  legislation  estab- 
lishing a  special  court  for  the  hearing  of  all  the  cases  in 
which  a  city  or  state  department  is  the  complainant. 
The  idea  met  with  the  warm  approval  of  heads  of  city 
departments  and  of  the  majority  of  the  magistrates. 

The  provision  for  the  court  was  made  one  of  the  im- 
portant features  of  the  Committee's  bill  reorganizing  the 
courts  which  was  introduced  in  the  1914  legislature 
without  success  and  which  after  a  hard  fight  was  finally 
successful  in  the  1915  session. 

This  legislation  provided  for  a  departmental  court 
called  the  Municipal  Term  Court  to  be  established  at 
a  central  place  for  the  trial  of  departmental  violations. 


42  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

Such  a  court  is  now  established  in  the  Municipal  Build- 
ing and  has  proven  to  be  a  greater  success  than  had 
been  hoped  for  even  by  its  sponsors. 

A  certain  day  of  the  week  is  devoted  to  the  work  of 
each  department.  For  example,  Health  Department 
cases  are  heard  on  Tuesday,  Labor  Law  on  Thursday, 
and  so  on.  By  this  arrangement  the  inspectors  are 
enabled  to  work  uninterruptedly  in  the  field  excepting 
on  the  court  day  devoted  to  their  particular  department. 

The  innovation  has  worked  for  more  effective  admin- 
istration of  the  law,  the  development  of  a  fixed  depart- 
mental policy,  a  saving  of  time  to  inspectors  and  citi- 
zens and  a  more  enlightened  judicial  administration  of 
these  highly  technical  laws.  A  similar  court  has  been 
established  in  Brooklyn. 

Traffic  Court 

The  Committee's  legislation  of  1915  in  addition  to 
providing  for  the  establishment  of  a  Municipal  Term 
Court,  gave  the  Board  of  Magistrates  power  to  estab- 
lish other  special  courts.  Under  this  provision,  the 
Traffic  Court  has  been  established  in  Manhattan.  This 
court  has  proven  a  marked  success  in  supporting  the 
Police  Department  in  handling  the  difficult  traffic  prob- 
lems of  the  city. 

Probation 

It  has  long  since  been  recognized  that  to  commit  a 
delinquent  chho  to  an  institution  often  does  him  more 
harm  than  good.  The  value  of  setting  a  child  right  in 
his  own  home  and  neighborhood  to  grow  up  into  good 
citizenship  there  is  self  evident.    It  is  on  this  principle 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  43 

that  probation  is  founded.  The  probation  officer  is 
the  good  Samaritan  of  the  court.  He  is  a  combined 
employment  agency,  minister,  teacher  and  friend  to 
the  probationer.  To  be  successful  he  must  possess  the 
qualities  of  tact,  generous  sympathy,  forbearance  and 
kindliness  with  a  proper  mixture  of  severity  and  author- 
ity. It  is  his  duty  to  exercise  helpful,  constructive  and 
authoritative  supervision  over  those  who  are  in  his 
charge.  His  work  is  preventive  in  that  he  seeks  to 
avoid  further  lapses  into  delinquency  and  is  construc- 
tive in  that  he  tries  to  lay  the  foundation  for  good 
citizenship  in  the  life  of  his  charge. 

How  the  Committee  has  worked  to  secure  the  estab- 
lishment and  development  of  a  probation  system  in  the 
Children's  Court  will  be  discussed  later  under  the  Chil- 
dren's Court.  This  system  which  is  proving  so  valuable 
in  the  handling  of  delinquent  children  also  proves  a 
great  benefit  to  many  who  have  been  convicted  in  the 
adult  courts.  In  the  daily  number  of  persons  convicted 
of  one  offense  or  another  in  the  Magistrates'  Courts  and 
the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  there  are  many  who 
should  feel  the  authority  of  the  court,  but  for  whom  a 
prison  or  reformatory  commitment  would  be  unjust 
and  so  harmful  as  to  ruin  possibly  useful  careers. 
The  court  may  place  such  an  individual  under  the 
supervision  of  a  probation  officer.  To  be  effective  this 
supervision  must  be  authoritative,  intelligent,  con- 
structive and  sympathetic. 

Previous  to  1910  the  probation  officers  were  police 
officers  assigned  to  the  various  magistrates  in  the 
capacity  of  personal  attendants  and  confidential  officers. 
Their  work  was  in  no  proper  sense  probation  work. 


44  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

Probation  Officers  Appointed  Through 
Civil  Service 
The  Page  Law  provided  for  civilian  officers  appointed 
by  the  Board  of  Magistrates  or  justices  and  chief  pro- 
bation officers  appointed  by  the  chief  city  magistrate 
and  by  the  Boards  of  Justices.  The  Committee,  con- 
vinced that  a  better  grade  of  officers  could  be  obtained 
by  Civil  Service  examination,  united  with  other  civic 
organizations  and  opposed  legislation  seeking  to  put 
them  in  the  exempt  class  and  by  taking  the  matter  up 
with  the  State  Civil  Service  Commission  were  able  to 
have  the  positions  placed  under  Civil  Service  competi- 
tive rules.  Members  of  the  Committee  assisted  in  the 
examination,  and  the  staff  helped  in  the  organization  of 
the  new  departments. 

Increased  Salaries  for  Probation  Officers 

Probation  work  requires  high-grade  persons  as  offi- 
cers to  be  successful.  Such  persons  cannot  be  obtained 
for  a  low  salary  with  no  possibility  for  advancement. 
The  Board  of  Estimate  fixed  the  salary  for  probation 
officers  at  $1,200.  The  Committee  felt  that  this 
compensation  with  no  chance  for  advancement  would 
eventually  drive  the  best  officers  from  the  service  and 
discourage  properly  qualified  persons  from  accepting 
appointment.  It  made  a  careful  study  of  the  work  of 
probation  officers  in  the  Children's  Court,  the  Magis- 
trates' Courts  and  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions.  This 
study  gave  ample  justification  for  an  increase  in  salary 
being  granted  these  officers.  The  Committee  conducted 
an  arduous  campaign  with  the  Board  of  Estimate  for 
the  higher  salaries  and  was  successful  in  obtaining  an 
increase  of  $300  a  year  to  all  officers  then  in  service 


THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY  45 

who  passed  a  satisfactory  promotion  examination,  this 
increase,  however,  to  be  spread  over  a  period  of  three 
years.  The  Committee  suggested  that  the  promotion 
to  the  higher  grades  of  salary  be  given  only  to  those  who 
had  qualified  by  passing  a  promotion  examination. 
The  Magistrates'  Courts  acted  upon  the  suggestion, 
but  it  was  only  after  the  Board  of  Estimate  threatened 
to  withhold  the  increases  that  the  Court  of  Special 
Sessions,  which  then  also  had  jurisdiction  over  the 
Children's  Court,  was  induced  to  act  in  the  same  man- 
ner and  request  the  Civil  Service  Commission  to  hold 
an  unofficial  promotion  examination.  The  Committee 
stood  firmly  for  this  method  of  promotion.  The  spirit 
of  healthful  rivalry  that  has  been  developed  among 
probation  officers  has  since  justified  this  action.  The 
three  years  are  now  completed  and  all  the  officers  then 
in  office  who  have  fulfilled  the  requirements  are  now 
receiving  the  higher  salaries. 

Since  this  was  accomplished  the  bureau  of  standards 
of  the  Board  of  Estimate  has  fixed  the  standard  grades 
for  probation  officers'  salaries.  This  standard  provides 
for  a  salary  range  of  $1,200  to  $1,560  for  the  position 
of  probation  officer,  and  for  the  position  of  senior  pro- 
bation oflficer  with  salary  of  from  $1,680  to  $2,160. 
Above  this  are  the  positions  of  deputy  chief  pro- 
bation ofiicers  at  from  $2,340  to  $2,820,  and  the  chief 
probation  officer  with  salary  ranging  from  $3,060  to 
$4,140.  The  higher  positions  are  filled  by  promotion 
examination  so  there  is  incentive  to  good  work  and  a 
reason  for  following  probation  as  a  profession.  These 
grades  were  not  arrived  at  by  the  Bureau  of  Standards 
without  strong  representation  from  the  Judges,  the 
Committee  and  others  urging  the  necessity  of  providing 


46  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

salaries  sufficiently  attractive  to  induce  competent  peo- 
ple to  accept  appointment. 

The  Central  Probation  Bureau  Established 

Under  the  old  regime  of  police  probation  officers  in 
the  Magistrates  Courts,  individuals  were  assigned  as 
attaches  to  the  various  courts,  only  reporting  occasion- 
ally to  the  central  office.  This  plan  was  handed  down 
to  the  new  organization.  With  such  a  system  there 
could  be  no  real  supervision  or  uniform  standards  of 
work.  It  was  not  economical  on  the  administrative 
side  and  was  not  fair  to  the  officers.  One  court  might 
have  five  probation  cases  to  another's  one.  This 
resulted  in  some  officers  having  two  hundred  cases 
while  other  officers  had  not  more  than  twenty-five.  In 
accordance  with  recommendations  made  by  the  Com- 
missioner of  Accounts,  the  Chief  City  Magistrate  of  the 
First  Division  established  a  probation  bureau  in  con- 
nection with  his  office  and  caused  all  officers  to  report 
there  and  receive  their  assignments  of  investigation 
work  and  probation  cases.  Thus  the  chief  probation 
officer  was  enabled  to  divide  the  work  up  evenly  among 
his  officers  and  the  officers  could  spend  their  days  in 
the  field  instead  of  staying  in  court  until  three  in  the 
afternoon  waiting  for  cases  to  come  up. 

The  Committee  lent  its  wholehearted  support  in  this 
matter  and  helped  as  much  as  possible  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  bureau. 

The  Manhattan  bureau  commended  itself  so  favora- 
bly to  the  tax  budget  committee  of  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate that  when  the  budget  for  1915  for  the  courts  of 
the  then  Second  Division  came  up  for  discussion  they 
asked  the  chief  magistrate  of  that  division  for  an  esti- 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  47 

mate  of  the  requirements  for  the  establishment  of  a 
similar  bureau  in  Brooklyn.  The  Committee  offered  its 
aid  and,  cooperating  with  the  Acting  Chief  Magistrate 
of  that  Division,  worked  out  a  plan  for  Brooklyn  based 
on  the  experience  of  the  Manhattan  Probation  Bureau. 
The  plan  was  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
despite  severe  opposition,  even  to  the  extent  of  an 
appeal  to  the  higher  courts,  is  still  in  vogue,  though  this 
opposition  and  the  changes  due  to  the  Committee's 
bill  merging  the  two  divisions  under  one  chief  has 
delayed  a  proper  organization  under  the  centralized 
system.  The  Committee  is  cooperating  in  reorganizing 
the  probation  department  under  one  chief.  The  Com- 
mittee is  at  present  devoting  much  effort  to  studying 
the  system  in  order  to  be  of  help  to  the  Chief  Probation 
Officer  in  the  establishment  of  a  thoroughly  well- 
equipped  and  well-organized  probation  bureau. 

Children's  Court 

Practically  as  soon  as  the  Committee  was  organized, 
it  made  a  study  of  the  Children's  Court  then  organized 
as  part  of  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions.  The  court 
was  in  its  formative  stage.  Practically  all  that  had 
been  done  up  to  this  time  was  to  secure  the  hearing  of 
children's  cases  in  a  separate  court  apart  from  adults. 
The  judges  of  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  rotated  in 
the  court,  each  spending  two  months  in  the  Children's 
Court  and  then  returning  to  adult  work.  This  made  it 
difficult  for  the  judges  to  follow  cases  of  children 
through  their  court  history,  and  precluded  the  possi- 
bility of  a  judge  developing  the  point  of  view  of  regard- 
ing a  child  as  in  need  of  the  care  and  protection  of  the 
state,  rather  than  as  a  criminal. 


48  THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

Special  Judges  Assigned  to  Children's 
Court  Work 

The  Committee  finally  succeeded  in  inducing  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  to  assign 
four  judges  for  continuous  service  in  the  Children's 
Court.    This  was  a  great  step  in  advance. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  the  value  of  probation  in 
children's  cases  was  recognized.  Before  1912  there 
were  no  paid  probation  officers. 

At  the  present  time  sixty-five  per  cent,  of  the  chil- 
dren adjudged  delinquent  or  without  proper  guardian- 
ship in  the  Children's  Court  are  placed  on  probation 
and  fifty-one  probation  officers  are  attached  to  these 
courts. 

Such  probation  work  as  was  done  before  1912  was 
carried  on  by  volunteer  organizations.  Much  good  work 
was  done  but  there  was  no  fixed  responsibility  to  the 
court.  This  lack  of  official  responsibility  and  the 
danger  of  regarding  gratuitous  service  as  secondary  are 
the  fundamental  weaknesses  of  all  volunteer  work. 

Developing  the  Probation  System 

We  have  seen  how  the  Page  Law  provided  for  official 
probation  officers  and  how  the  Committee  worked  to 
secure  the  appointment  of  paid  probation  officers  under 
Civil  Service  rule  in  all  the  courts. 

When  the  Committee  was  organized,  the  Children's 
Court  offered  a  ready  field  for  the  immediate  develop- 
ment of  this  important  work.  Consequently,  during 
the  summer  of  1912,  the  Committee  secured  the  ser- 
vices of  Mr.  Henry  W.  Thurston,  who  had  organized 
the  probation  work  in  the  Chicago  Children's  Court, 
to  spend  a  summer  in  the  New  York  court  to  organize 


THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY  49 

the  probation  system  and  court  record  system.  In  the 
meantime  probation  officers  had  been  appointed  from 
the  Civil  Service  list  and  had  begun  service  in  the  Chil- 
dren's Court.  Mr.  Thurston  worked  out  with  great 
care  a  scheme  of  records  and  organized  the  system  which 
is  the  foundation  of  the  present  probation  service.  Since 
this  original  service  the  Committee  has  kept  closely  in 
touch  with  the  development  of  this  work.  From  time 
to  time  it  has  been  privileged  to  make  further  sugges- 
tions relative  to  the  record  system  and  the  probation 
organization. 

A  More  Complete  Children's  Court  Report 

Because  of  the  completeness  of  the  records  in  the 
Children's  Courts,  the  Committee  felt  that  they  con- 
tained much  valuable  information  that  should  be  pre- 
sented to  the  public  in  the  report  of  the  court.  At  the 
end  of  1913  it  was  suggested  to  the  chief  clerk  of  the 
Court  of  Special  Sessions  then  in  charge  of  the  Chil- 
dren's Court  work,  that  such  a  report  be  made.  He 
responded  cordially  to  the  idea  but  was  handicapped  by 
lack  of  assistance  and  suggested  that  the  Committee 
make  this  first  more  complete  report.  The  Committee 
gladly  accepted  the  opportunity  to  do  this  service. 
The  staff,  after  careful  study  of  children's  court  reports 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  and  from  abroad,  sub- 
mitted an  outline  for  what  at  that  time  seemed  to  them 
to  be  a  good  report.  The  outline  was  accepted  and  the 
staff  compiled  the  statistics  and  illustrated  the  most 
important  facts  by  graphic  representation.  It  was  pub- 
lished as  the  official  report  of  the  court. 

At  the  end  of  1913  the  Probation  Department  with 
salaried  officers  had  been  functioning  for  nearly  two 


50  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

years.  The  Committee  made  a  study  of  the  work  that 
the  probation  officers  were  doing  and  published  it  in  a 
monograph,  'Probation  in  the  Manhattan  Children's 
Court'.  This  report  was  a  tribute  to  the  effective  work 
that  was  being  accomplished  by  the  officers  with  the 
children.  It  pointed  out  some  of  the  more  important 
defects  of  the  system  which  were  largely  due  to  the 
inadequacy  of  the  staff  and  suggested  means  and 
method  of  improvement  in  the  service.  It  was  received 
as  a  friendly  constructive  criticism  of  the  probation 
work  by  the  judges  and  the  probation  officers.  They 
were  able  to  use  to  advantage  some  of  the  suggestions 
made  not  only  to  improve  the  character  of  the  work 
but  in  securing  additional  funds  and  help  for  the  de- 
partment. 

As  has  been  stated,  in  1912  the  Committee  prevailed 
upon  the  then  reluctant  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of 
Special  Sessions  to  assign  special  judges  to  devote  their 
services  exclusively  to  the  work  in  the  Children's  Court. 
Even  under  this  modified  arrangement,  the  Children's 
Court  was  still  under  the  authority  of  a  board  of  jus- 
tices the  majority  of  whom  sat  in  adult  courts  and  the 
administration  was  hopelessly  complicated  with  that 
of  the  adult  courts.  The  probation  officers  of  the 
Children's  Court  were  under  the  authority  of  a  chief 
who  devoted  most  of  his  time  to  adult  work.  Other 
phases  of  the  work  were  equally  discouraging  to  the 
best  development  of  the  court. 

The  Children's  Court  Separated  from  the 
Adult  Courts 

Although  the  four  judges  assigned  to  the  Children's 
Court  work  were  in  a  way  responsible  for  its  adminis- 


THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY  51 

tration  they  did  not  have  any  authority  over  the  offi- 
cials of  the  court.  The  administration  was  entirely 
under  the  control  of  the  adult  court.  It  became  appar- 
ent that  the  continuation  of  such  a  system  would  make 
impossible  any  great  progress.  The  Committee  recog- 
nized this  as  far  back  as  1912  when  it  considered  legis- 
lation to  separate  the  Children's  Court  from  the  Adult 
Court.  In  1914,  when  legislation  was  considered  for 
reorganizing  the  entire  inferior  courts  system,  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  Children's  Court  from  the  adult  court  was 
one  of  the  four  important  parts  of  the  Committee's  bill. 
As  soon  as  proposed,  it  received  the  unanimous  support 
of  practically  all  interested  in  the  Children's  Court. 
However,  the  bill  as  a  whole  did  not  pass  the  legisla- 
ture until  1915. 

This  bill  which  became  effective  July  1, 1915,  entirely 
changed  the  administration  of  the  Children's  Court. 
It  made  it  a  separate  division  with  complete  authority 
for  its  administration,  vested  in  its  board  of  five  jus- 
tices appointed  by  the  Mayor.  It  gave  these  courts 
a  chief  clerk,  a  chief  probation  officer  and  a  separate 
probation  administration  under  its  own  chief  proba- 
tion officer. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  measure  the  growth  and  de- 
velopment of  the  Children's  Court  under  this  changed 
system.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  after  two  years 
of  the  administration  under  the  re-organization  that 
the  Children's  Court  has  gone  forward  in  such  an 
amazing  way  that  it  may  be  regarded  now  as  the  fore- 
most Children's  Court  in  the  United  States. 

Immediately  upon  the  reorganization,  the  Committee 
set  to  work  with  the  presiding  justice  and  board  of  jus- 
tices of  the  Children's  Court  and  the  administrative 


52  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

officers  to  help  reorganize  the  court  under  the  new  law. 
The  probation  work  had  to  be  readjusted  under  a  chief 
of  its  own.  At  the  request  of  the  chairman  of  the  pro- 
bation committee  of  the  Board  of  Justices  the  Com- 
mittee submitted  a  memorandum  of  suggestions  for 
the  organization  of  the  probation  department.  These 
were  largely  incorporated  in  the  rules  governing  the 
probation  department  of  this  court,  which  have  since 
been  printed. 

The  Old  Children's  Court  Building  Inadequate 

When  the  Children's  Court  was  first  established,  it 
was  housed  in  the  old  Department  of  Charities  Build- 
ing at  11th  Street  and  Third  Avenue.  This  building 
was  wholly  unfit  for  the  court.  It  was  an  old  worn- 
out  building  in  a  noisy  locality,  very  unsanitary  and 
entirely  lacking  in  arrangements  of  space  and  other 
facilities  for  the  proper  carrying  on  of  a  children's 
court.  The  great  volume  of  business  added  to  the 
disorder  and  unpleasantness.  Soon  after  the  court's 
establishment  Judge  Hoyt  and  Judge  Deuel  had 
started  a  movement  for  a  new  building.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  granted  by  the  Board  of 
Estimate  for  that  purpose.  It  was  proposed  to  build  the 
building  on  the  old  site.  At  this  time  the  Committee 
was  just  beginning  its  activities.  It  studied  the  situa- 
tion and  suggested  that  the  site  was  too  noisy  and 
after  thorough  canvass  of  the  situation  a  lot  belonging 
to  the  old  City  College  situated  on  22nd  Street  near 
Lexington  Avenue  was  finally  obtained. 

The  Committee  made  a  detailed  study  of  the  needs 
of  the  Children's  Court  building  to  provide  for  the  de- 


THE    FORGOTTEN   ARMY  53 

velopment  of  the  work  in  accordance  with  the  best 
modern  scientific  methods  and  thought. 

It  put  the  results  of  this  study  at  the  disposal  of  the 
architects  and  watched  very  carefully  the  development 
of  the  plans  and  building  until  its  completion. 

The  result  is  most  satisfactory. 

The  New  Building 

The  new  building  was  formally  opened  and  dedicated 
January  25,  1916.  It  cost  $235,000.  The  design  of  the 
architects,  the  careful  planning  of  the  justices,  city 
officials  and  the  Committee  gave  it  a  simple  beauty 
and  appropriateness  of  arrangement  that  will  impress 
upon  children  and  parents  the  dignity  and  kindliness 
of  justice. 

Let  us  follow  a  child  through  the  building  and  see 
what  it  means  to  him.  Suppose  that  Tony  is  brought 
in  the  big  van  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Children  and  deposited  with  others  at  the 
sheltered  side  entrance  designed  for  his  reception. 
He  is  then  taken  to  the  detention  room,  a  large  sunny 
room  of  southern  exposure,  finished  entirely  in  tile 
for  sanitary  reasons.  The  room  is  really  a  large  chil- 
dren's playroom. 

Shortly  before  Tony's  case  is  reached  he  is  taken 
down  to  a  small  anteroom  adjoining  the  court  room. 
From  this  he  is  led  across  a  hall,  protected  from  public 
view,  into  the  court  room  at  the  left  of  the  bench.  No 
one  is  here  except  the  judge,  presiding  in  his  robe  on  a 
slightly  raised  platform,  the  stenographer,  other  neces- 
sary court  officials,  Tony's  parents,  the  complainant 
and  anyone  else  particularly  interested  in  Tony's  wel- 
fare.    This  arrangement,  while  impressing  the  child 


54  THE   FORGOTTEN   ARMY 

with  the  dignity  of  the  court,  still  avoids  unnecessary 
shame  in  some  cases  and  the  satisfaction  of  brazen 
pride  in  others,  occasioned  by  a  baldy  public  hearing. 
There  are  four  benches  for  the  public,  but  they  are 
never  occupied  by  the  morbidly  curious. 

Tony's  case  is  heard  and  he  is  found  guilty  of  the 
specific  offense  charged.  But  the  judge  wants  further 
facts.  The  probation  officer  is  asked  to  make  an  investi- 
gation and  Tony  is  allowed  to  go  home  with  his  mother 
to  return  in  a  day  or  two. 

Tony  and  his  mother  leave  the  court  room  without 
going  through  the  waiting  room.  When  they  again 
come  they  are  taken  into  the  judge's  chambers,  'the 
heart  of  the  court',  where  they  meet  the  same  judge. 
He  is  sitting  at  a  table  without  his  robe,  with  no  one 
but  the  stenographer  and  the  probation  officer  present. 
The  case  is  talked  over  carefully.  The  judge  learns 
that  Tony  has  no  stealing  habits  but  that  he  was  in- 
duced by  a  gang  of  older  boys  to  go  on  this  one  exploit. 
He  has  never  been  in  court  before.  He  is  therefore 
placed  on  probation,  and  the  probation  officer  takes 
him  and  his  mother  up  by  the  elevator  to  the  probation 
rooms,  where  they  talk  the  matter  over  all  by  themselves. 

Tony  is  instructed  to  report  on  certain  days  to  the 
court.  He  is  thereafter  received  in  a  place  conveniently 
located  for  these  interviews. 

This  is  but  an  instance  showing  how  well  the  building 
is  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  thousands  of  cases  yearly 
passing  through  the  court. 


We  have  followed  through  and  sketched  in  large  out- 
lines the  main  fields  of  the  Committee's  activities  and 
accomplishments.     It  is  impossible  to  give  any  thor- 


THE   FORGOTTEN  ARMY  55 

oughly  complete  account  of  the  work  without  becoming 
tedious.  The  staff  is  busy  daily  on  some  one  or  another 
of  the  many  things  on  its  calendar  of  'Things  To  Do'. 
One  day  it  is  busy  with  the  probation  department  of 
the  Children's  Court,  the  next  week  its  activities  may 
of  necessity  be  entirely  devoted  to  study  of  plans  for 
a  proposed  building.  Again  it  may  be  compelled  by 
watchful,  persistent  effort  to  prevent  the  establishment 
of  that  which  has  been  discarded  as  open  to  serious 
political  abuses.  It  may  be  necessary  to  conduct  an 
extensive  investigation  into  the  effect  of  certain  court 
practices  in  order  to  have  the  convincing  argument  of 
statistical  facts  to  prove  the  necessity  of  a  legislative 
change.  It  all  takes  careful,  thoughtful,  persistent  and 
devoted  service.  The  Committee  seeks  to  render  that 
kind  of  service  and  believes  it  is  succeeding. 

If  the  results  that  have  been  accomplished  in  the 
improvement  of  these  courts  through  the  work  of  the 
Committee  seem  fruitful  it  is  due  largely  to  the  degree 
of  cooperation  which  the  Committee  has  been  able  to 
secure  from  the  public  officials  charged  with  responsi- 
bility in  these  matters.  The  results  have  been  due  far 
more  to  the  work  of  these  officials  than  to  the  Com- 
mittee or  its  staff  and  the  Committee  deeply  appreciates 
the  continuance  of  these  cordial,  sympathetic  and  coop- 
erative relations. 


THE  COMMITTEE  ON  CRIMINAL  COURTS 

OF 

THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATION  SOCIETY 
OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 

Bronson  Winthrop,  Chairman 
Otto  T.  Bannard 
Robert  W.  de  Forest 
Victor  J.  Dowling 
Homer  Folks 
John  M.  Glenn 
Frederick  Trevor  Hill 
Ralph  K.  Jacobs 
George  W.  Kirchwey 
Philip  J.  McCook 
Julius  M.  Mayer 
Morgan  J.  O'Brien 
Alfred  R.  Page 
Alton  B.  Parker 
Frank  L.  Polk 
Ezra  P.  Prentice 
George  W.  Schurman 
Nathan  A.  Smyth 
Henry  W.  Thurston 
Lawrence  Veiller 

staff 

Lawrence  Veiller,  Secretary 
George  Everson,  Executive  Secretary 
Mrs.  Mary  E.  Paddon,  Assistant  Secretary 

105  EAST  22ND  STREET,  NEW  YORK  CITY 
APRIL,  1918 


Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PM.  JAN.  21, 1908 


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